8. Ender’s Game (Major Gwen Anderson)
Viola Davis is like, a serious actor, which is why it’s so cool that she does movies like Suicide Squad and the sci-fi flick, Ender’s Game. In the movie based on the famous novel, we learn about a boy named Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, who’s a regular savant when it comes to modern-day warfare. Also starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford, Viola Davis’s role as Major Gwen Anderson isn’t huge, but it’s memorable enough that she fits in right alongside the two main leads.
Harrison Ford, as always, is his gruff self as Colonel Hyrum Graff. But Viola Davis, as his second-in-command, shows toughness but also heart, as she feels for the children who are being groomed to be warriors before adulthood. It’s a tough balancing act to walk—steeliness and compassion—but if anybody can pull it off, it’s Viola Davis, and she does so! With aplomb.