Viola Davis attends the Academy Museum 5th annual gala in Partnership with Rolex at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Oct. 18, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Emma McIntyre/Oscars/Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures)
The NAACP announced Thursday that Viola Davis will be the recipient of the prestigious Chairman’s Award.
She’ll receive the honor at the upcoming 57th NAACP Image Awards, which air live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 28.
“The Chairman’s Award honors individuals who excel in public service and leverage their unique platforms to ignite and drive meaningful change,” according to the announcement.
“Viola Davis is a generational talent who has commanded audiences with her powerful and transcending performances,” Leon W. Russell, chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors, said. “Through a career defined by excellence and courage, she has used her platform to work towards opportunity and equity, crafting an undeniable legacy for generations to come. We look forward to celebrating her and the trailblazing path she has created for herself, and others to follow.”
Past award recipients include Kamala Harris, Amanda Gorman, Samuel L. Jackson, the late civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis, Ruby Dee, Danny Glover, Rev. James Lawson, Tyler Perry and then-Sen. Barack Obama.
Davis, who holds EGOT status, is also nominated for an NAACP Image Award for her role in the action-thriller G20.
The public can vote to determine winners in select categories. Voting ends Friday.
The title treatment for ‘One Piece: The Battle of Alabasta.’ (Netflix)
The third season of Netflix’s Once Piece now has its title.
The upcoming third installment in the live-action adaptation will be called One Piece: The Battle of Alabasta. Netflix has also announced that season 3 will debut in 2027.
The pirate adventure show is based on Japan’s highest-selling manga series of all time. It follows Monkey D. Luffy during his quest to find the fabled treasure and become King of the Pirates.
An official description for season 3 has also been announced. “War is coming for Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat crew in the desert kingdom of Alabasta, Princess Vivi’s homeland,” the description reads. “A rebellion threatens to tear the nation apart, fueled in secret by one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the ruthless Sir Crocodile, and his underground syndicate Baroque Works, who seek to conquer Alabasta for themselves.”
Season 3 will find the Straw Hats facing a civil war and a powerful warlord in order “to save Vivi’s kingdom before it crumbles into the sand,” the official description continues.
Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Taz Skylar, Emily Rudd and Jacob Romero starred in season 2, One Piece: Into the Grand Line, which debuted on March 10.
Joe Tracz and Ian Stokes will serve as the co-showrunners for season 3.
“The Alabasta saga is one of the best-loved stories in all of One Piece — and one of our personal favorite arcs — so it’s a huge honor to bring it to life,” Tracz and Stokes said in a press release.
As previously reported, Oh, Mary! creator Cole Escola will play fan-favorite character Bon Clay in the upcoming third season, while Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña will play Portgas D. Ace.
A savvy scammer meets a surgeon with a sick sense of morality in the new horror movie Twisted. Lauren LaVera stars as a scam artist who tangles with a neurosurgeon played by Djimon Hounsou.
LaVera, best known for her role in the ultra-bloody Terrifier franchise, is no stranger to the horror genre.
“I don’t know what it is about me that directors want to just throw all the blood on me,” LaVera told ABC Audio.
LaVera’s first major role in the industry came on the set of the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Split, where she played a body double for Anya Taylor-Joy.
“I was terrified, because I love M. Night Shyamalan,” LaVera said.
She said The Sixth Sense director would often bring her behind the camera to observe the directing process.
“Seeing that kind of passion for this art form really influenced me,” LaVera said. “I saw that you can be this kind person and this incredible artist at the same time.”
In Twisted, LaVera tackles a morally complex character in Paloma, a grifter who attempts to sell rented properties to unsuspecting buyers — until she crosses Hounsou’s Dr. Robert Kezian, who’s on a mission to bring his dead wife back from the grave.
LaVera said Paloma isn’t so different from her Terrifier character, Sienna.
“If we’re using these two women on opposite ends of the moral spectrum — they just had different upbringings. And it’s kind of like that nature versus nurture.”
Another similarity between Terrifier and Twisted is an emphasis on practical horror effects.
“It’s like assisted acting,” said LaVera. “When you have practicals, you can literally see what’s happening in the scene, and that will help influence your reaction to that.”
But it is still gross, she said: “I do not like being covered in blood. Especially when it’s sticky.”
