Viola Davis paid tribute to her family as she was honoured with the Best Supporting Actress gong at the BAFTAs

She said: "To my beautiful husband of 13 years, Julius, and to my daughter Genesis, who every time I tell her a story at night, she says the most important phrase which is, 'Mummy, please put me in the story' and I do."

The 51-year-old actress also shared a story about her late father and all of those who "did not make it into the history books" but have a story that should be shared too.

She added: "My father groomed horses at the race track and had a fifth grade education and he was a janitor towards the end of his life when he died of cancer at a McDonalds. The reason why I say that is, when he took his last breath, one of the most devastating things that went through my mind is, did his life matter?

"And August [Wilson] answers that question so brilliantly because what he did is he said our lives mattered as African Americans: the horse groomer, the sanitation worker, the people who grew up under the heavy rule of Jim Crow. The people who did not make it into the history books but they have a story and all stories deserve to be told because they lived.

"And so thank you August, thank you Denzel Washington for honouring actors and not the sky ... because sometimes we're sacrificed for great cinematic vision, which is not bad. But it's nice to be the centre and the focus as an actor."