She’s already an EGOT winner, but now Viola Davis can add yet another role to her resume after being appointed to a presidential advisory council.
The “Help” star is one of 12 inaugural members of the President’s Advisory Council on Africa Diaspora Engagement in the United States, the White House announced Tuesday.
The move to create the council was announced last year by Vice President Harris at a White House summit with African leaders in Washington.
The members of President Biden’s advisory council, who are appointed by secretary of State Antony Blinken, represent “the diversity of the African Diaspora from African American communities around the United States and African immigrant communities across the continent and the Caribbean,” according to the White House.
Fifty-eight-year-old Davis, who played Michelle Obama in Showtime’s “The First Lady,” was noted by the White House as a “critically revered artist, activist, producer, philanthropist and New York Times best-selling author.”
Members of the council also include chairman Silvester Beaman, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, WNBA player Chinenye “Chiney” Ogwumike, Spelman College President Helene Gayle, Center for American Progress CEO Patrick Gaspard and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture director Kevin Young, among others.