Viola Davis has only one scene in "Doubt," the film adaptation of John Patrick Shanley’s Tony Award-winning play. But that 12-minute confrontation with Meryl Streep packs a serious punch, earning both of them Oscar nominations. Davis is nominated for best supporting actress, and Streep, best actress. The film depicts that battle between Sister Aloysius (Streep), who runs the parish school with an iron fist, and Father Flynn, (Philip Seymour Hoffman) a young priest Aloysius accuses of abusing a young male student. Davis plays Mrs. Miller, the young boy’s mother. Here the rising star talks about her role, her views about Hollywood and more with Melissa Silverstein, wowOwow’s correspondent and founder of the website WomenandHollywood.com.

Melissa Silverstein: So, Viola, you’re a Tony Award-winning actress and have spent many years on the stage. Can you talk to us a little bit about the difference between stage and film acting?

Viola Davis: Probably the only difference is time. In theater you’re given a four-week rehearsal period, then you get two weeks of previews, then you run sometimes for a month or a year. So you have all this opportunity to discover, to try things, to take risks, to learn. Whereas in film, you don’t have the luxury of that time. You just don’t.

MS: I read that you had three weeks of rehearsals for "Doubt." Is that true?

VD: Exactly. We had a three-and-a-half-week rehearsal period which was necessary for this particular piece because it was written for the stage. So the scenes were not what normal film scenes were. They were longer and more complicated. They weren’t the kind of scenes where you can show up on the set and just wing it.

MS: You have been quoted saying that your Juilliard training didn’t celebrate the individual. Were you talking about race issues or actors versus actresses?

VD: All actors in general. I think that every actor who went there absolutely felt that. They’re not there to teach you what you already know and what you’re already good at. They know you’re good at it. That’s why you got into the school. They’re trying to teach you what doesn’t come easily to you so that you can grow as an artist. It’s like medicine that tastes really bad going down, but ultimately is good for you. They wanted me to be airier, sexier. But my "airy" is going to look different than a girl who’s 105 pounds and blonde and blue-eyed. So I was trying to be blonde, blue-eyed and airy and it just wasn’t happening. So I was frustrated with who I was and it created a sense of self-hate in me.

MS: You also talked about how you got stereotyped as an African American woman. How do you see African American actresses fitting into Hollywood?

VD: I don’t see us limited as actors. I see the roles out there as being limited. I’m hopeful that it’s going to change. I think that it’s starting to change. But I don’t see the black Lindsay Lohan. I don’t see the black Meryl Streeps and Diane Keatons. I don’t see the black Nicole Kidmans and Julia Roberts, or the Cameron Diaz, the Jennifer Anistons. I don’t see that.

I see the sexy black woman. I see the strong, grounded judge, lawyer, mama. And so if you are quirky and funny and kind of shy and maybe 43 and you don’t speak Ebonics, where do you go? Who’s writing those roles? They just simply don’t even exist in the stereotype. They just don’t exist.

MS: Adriane Lenox won a Tony Award playing your part on Broadway. What is it is about Mrs. Miller that so resonates?