 She was the second African-American woman to win the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, after Phylicia Rashad.Davis played the role of Dr. Minerva in "It's Kind of a Funny Story" (2010), a coming-of-age film written and directed by Anna Boden with Ryan Fleck, adapted from the 2006 novel by Ned Vizzini.In August 2011, Davis played the role of Aibileen Clark, a housemaid in 1960s Mississippi, in the screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help", directed by Tate Taylor.