Viola Davis on Playing Michelle Obama, and Finding Her Voice as an Actor

Viola Davis on Playing Michelle Obama, and Finding Her Voice as an Actor

The Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis traces her career in Hollywood back to a single moment of inspiration from her childhood: watching Cicely Tyson star in the 1974 movie “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” “I saw excellence and craft, and I saw transformation,” Davis tells David Remnick. “And more importantly, what it planted in me is that seed of—literally—I am not defined by the boundaries of my life.” In a new memoir, “Finding Me,” Davis writes of a difficult upbringing in Rhode Island, marked by poverty and an abusive father. She pursued her dream of attending the prestigious Juilliard School, but felt alienated by a white-focussed approach that left little room for her background or identity. She talks with Remnick about how she grew past these early challenges, the lingering impostor syndrome that many successful people experience, and how she prepared to play Michelle Obama in the series “The First Lady.” Plus, the cartoonist Liana Finck, a regular presence in The New Yorker, explains how a ride on the Long Island Rail Road gets her creative ideas flowing; she can work among people without anyone talking to her.

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Conan O’Brien on What Can Go Wrong at the Oscars

Conan O’Brien on What Can Go Wrong at the Oscars

Hosting the Academy Awards ceremony is a notoriously tricky gig, but Conan O’Brien nailed it in 2025, and he will return for this year’s event. Since leaving late-night television, in 2021, O’Brien ha...

20 Helmi 31min

Richard Brody Presents the 2026 Brody Awards

Richard Brody Presents the 2026 Brody Awards

Every year, ahead of Oscar night, the film critic Richard Brody joins the New Yorker Radio Hour to discuss his picks for the year’s best films. David Remnick sits down with Brody and the staff writer ...

17 Helmi 14min

What Donald Trump and “Everyone” Knew About Jeffrey Epstein

What Donald Trump and “Everyone” Knew About Jeffrey Epstein

In January, the Justice Department released over three million documents, including many redacted e-mails, related to Jeffrey Epstein. “Should we share the Julie Brown text with Alan [Dershowitz],” Ep...

13 Helmi 35min

Jenin Younes on Threats to Free Speech from the Left and the Right

Jenin Younes on Threats to Free Speech from the Left and the Right

Jenin Younes rose to prominence on the right by defending medical professionals like Jay Bhattacharya who claimed that they were being censored over opposition to vaccination and masking mandates. You...

10 Helmi 25min

Ben Shapiro Is Waging Battle Inside the MAGA Movement

Ben Shapiro Is Waging Battle Inside the MAGA Movement

Ben Shapiro, the host of his eponymous podcast and the co-founder of the conservative website the Daily Wire, has lambasted the left and the Democratic Party for decades. Recently, though, Shapiro has...

6 Helmi 49min

The City of Minneapolis vs. Donald Trump

The City of Minneapolis vs. Donald Trump

The staff writers Emily Witt and Ruby Cramer discuss the situation in Minneapolis, a city effectively under siege by militaristic federal agents. “This is a city where there’s a police force of about ...

30 Tammi 49min

How Bari Weiss Is Changing CBS News

How Bari Weiss Is Changing CBS News

Last October, Bari Weiss—best-known as a contrarian opinion writer who launched the right-leaning Free Press—was appointed the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. Donald Trump has called her new regime “...

27 Tammi 23min

How Tucker Carlson Became the Prophet of MAGA

How Tucker Carlson Became the Prophet of MAGA

Tucker Carlson has long been a standard-bearer for far-right views, such as the racist conspiracy theory known as the “great replacement.” He recently did a chatty interview with the white supremacist...

23 Tammi 27min

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