5 Roles We'd Love to See Viola Davis Star in Next

She may have lost the Oscar this year, but...

Even though she didn't walk away with the golden statuette for her role in The Help, Viola Davis is on to bigger and better things. She's putting on her producer hat as a way to pave the way for better roles, better choices for black women.

"I am doing this out of necessity,” she said in a recent interview. “If I am not the instrument of change, I can meander through this business and be the black woman who always has 2 or 3 scenes, but with fabulous actors around me.”

Viola Davis has been in the industry 23 years, but never has the light shined so bright on her as it has for last year's The Help. She spent a good chunk of 2011 defending her choice to star in the movie, saying, "Of course I had trepidations."

She told ESSENCE magazine, "Why do I have to play the mammy? But what do you do as an actor if one of the most multi-faceted and rich roles you’ve ever been given is a maid in 1962 Mississippi? Do you not take the role because you feel in some ways it’s not a good message to send to Black people?"

No matter how you feel about The Help, it's clear Ms. Davis has paid her dues. She has a hunger for pouring herself into roles and we can't say we've ever been disappointed when Viola is on the screen. Now that the hoopla of the Oscars has passed, let's take a look at what roles we'd like to see Viola take on next:

1. A Law Thriller

Viola is an excellent actress as it is, but have you seen her in roles where she gets to play a lawyer or district attorney? She throws down. From her stint as Donna Emmett on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit or her starring role in CBS' short-lived Century City, she commits to the role so fiercely that you forget she's an actress. Something similar to Kyra Sedwick's role on TNT's The Closer would suit Ms. Davis just fine, we think.

[ALSO READ: 6 Worst Oscar Snubs in Black Film History]

2. A Romantic Drama