Release

MEDIA ADVISORY - VIOLA DAVIS TO GUEST STAR ON UNITED STATES OF TARA

st1/:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }

MEDIA ADVISORY

VIOLA DAVIS TO GUEST STAR ON 2nd SEASON OF

SHOWTIME’S ACCLAIMED COMEDY SERIES UNITED STATES OF TARA

OSCAR® NOMINEE TO APPEAR IN SEVEN OF 12 EPISODES

LOS ANGELES, CA – (June 11, 2009) – Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominee Viola Davis (Doubt) will guest star on season two of SHOWTIME’s critically acclaimed original series UNITED STATES OF TARA. Davis will debut in the season’s second episode and appear in seven of the series’ twelve episodes playing “Lynda B. Dozier,” an unconventional artist who plays a significant role in Tara (Toni Collette) and her daughter Kate’s (Brie Larson) lives.

Davis’ critically revered career of film, television and theater has won rave reviews due to her intriguingly diverse roles.  Last year, her performance in Doubt, opposite Meryl Streep, commanded widespread recognition earning her nominations for an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe® Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and she received The National Board of Review’s “Breakthrough Award.”  Prior to that, Davis starred in Nights in Rodanthe, Disturbia, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Syriana, Far from Heaven, Solaris, Traffic, Out of Sight and Antwone Fisher, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination.  In television, Davis starred in the miniseries “The Andromeda Strain,” “Law & Order: SVU” and the miniseries “Jesse Stone,” among others.  In 2001, Davis was awarded a Tony for “Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play” and a Drama Desk Award for her work in “King Hedley II” and, in 2004, Davis garnered “Best Actress” awards from the Drama Desk, the Drama League, the Obie, the Audelco Award, and was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for her role in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of “Intimate Apparel.”

UNITED STATES OF TARA stars Academy Award® nominee Toni Collette as Tara, a suburban wife and mother struggling with DID (dissociative identity disorder), formerly known as multiple personality disorder.  Executive produced by DW Studios L.L.C. and created by Diablo Cody, the series delves into how a family copes with the various alters that may appear on any given day and range in age, temperament and even gender.  John Corbett co-stars as Max, her supportive husband who tries to keep the family together, “Kate” (Brie Larson) and “Marshall” (Keir Gilchrist) are her teenaged children who just wish their mother was a bit more “normal” while her sister “Charmaine” (Rosemarie DeWitt), holds the key to Tara’s past.

Production on season two will begin in August and is slated to premiere next year.

CONTACTS:

Nicole Caprio                                                            Jackie Ioachim

SHOWTIME PR                                                        SHOWTIME PR

nicole.caprio@showtime.net                                   jackie.ioachim@showtime.net

310.234.5218                                                            212.708.1220

    Show Contacts