Maybe it's that Oscar nomination, maybe it's that rich, resonant, voice, but something about Viola Davis must scream "authority!" She shot to stardom (or at least, awareness among most moviegoers) last year playing Mrs. Miller, the only person who could possibly shame Meryl Streep's Sister Aloysius, and this year she popped up already in Law Abiding Citizen, a movie that made the one good choice of casting her as the mayor.

Now she's picked two more roles in which she'll take charge and solve other people's problems. Variety writes that Davis will be in the Zach Galifianakis movie It's Kind of a Funny Story and the David Schwimmer-directed Trust, and will play a psychiatrist/counselor in both films. Funny Story is about a 15-year-old who checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward, where Davis plays his psychiatrist. And Trust is about a family coping with trauma, with the help of Davis as the teenage daughter's counselor.

Given the pathetic state of roles for black actresses on screen right now, it's worth celebrating the fact that Davis is getting cast in these meaty roles, even if they sound kind of identical. (She's also playing Julia Roberts' best friend on a spiritual retreat in Eat Pray Love, so there you go) So long as she can stay far, far away from silly vigilante movies, she'll be in good shape.