The 51-year-old, who won Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding supporting actress for "Fences", said that such actors have made a mark for themselves with their work, not because of their colour, reported Variety.
"There's a lot of typecasting - age, sex, colour, dark-skinned, light-skinned. Response to OscarSoWhite? No. I think that every nominee from Naomie Harris to Octavia Spencer to 'Hidden Figures' to 'Fences' to 'Moonlight' to Mahershala Ali are up there because they deserve to be there.
With the Oscars season coming up soon, Viola added that it is important diversity is discussed at the awards, than inclusion as art must reflect our life.