The actress would later take home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Viola Davis is a vision in red!
The Fences actress showed off a new look on Sunday's Oscars red carpet, wearing a gorgeous Armani Prive gown and debuting fierce new bangs!
Speaking with ET's Nancy O'Dell and Kevin Frazier before the ceremony, Davis revealed the sweet sendoff she received from 5-year-old daughter Genesis earlier that day.
"She said, 'Mama, be calm. Mommy, I love you,' and that was it," Davis said, with her husband, Julius Tennon, chiming in to add, "When she saw her mom in that red dress, she was speechless."
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Davis sweetly added that her mother was also on hand as she got ready.
"My mom was at the house and she cried," Davis said. "She just told me how much she loved me and then she cried, which is unusual for her."
Davis has been nominated twice before at the Academy Awards -- first for Doubt in 2008, and then for The Help in 2011. This year, she's up for Best Supporting Actress for her work opposite Denzel Washington in Fences. Last month, Davis earned a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for the role.
Asked what it would mean to take Oscar home tonight, Davis played it cool. "You know, it's not my style," Davis said, refusing to let the accolades get to her head.
"It could potentially be great," her husband nudged with a smile. Flashing another smile right back at him, Davis simply said, "Oh, I love that answer."
Hours later, it was great as Davis took to the stage to accept her very first Academy Award.
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