Viola Davis delivers a powerful and historic Oscars acceptance speech

Viola Davis won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in "Fences" on Sunday night, her first win after being nominated two previous times, and she didn't downplay her win as she went onstage and gave a moving acceptance speech.

"We are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life," she said of the importance of being an actor.

"So here's to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people," she added, referring to the playwright of the stage play on which her movie is based.

The win makes Davis the first black woman to win at least one competitive acting award at the Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys. She won an Emmy in 2015 for lead actress in a drama series for "How to Get Away With Murder," and in 2001 she won a Tony for "King Hedley II" (she won another in 2010 for the Broadway version of "Fences").

Watch Davis' Oscar-winning speech below: