The American Film Institute (AFI) will confer a Doctorate of Fine Arts degree honoris causa for contributions of distinction to the art of the moving image upon actress and producer Viola Davis and film editor and sound designer Walter Murch at the AFI Conservatory’s commencement ceremony celebrating the Class of 2025.

“Viola Davis and Walter Murch – both masters of their craft – symbolize the standard of excellence AFI was founded to celebrate,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “Their contributions to the art form have inspired audiences around the world – as they will inspire this year’s graduates of the AFI Conservatory.”

Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television and theater and has earned EGOT status. Her extensive career includes her Academy Award®-winning role in Fences, her Emmy®-winning role for How to Get Away With Murder, her Tony Award-winning roles for “Fences” and “King Hedley II” and a Grammy Award for the recording of her memoir “Finding Me.”

Murch is an Academy Award®-winning master editor and sound designer who began his career editing sound on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People in 1969. Murch earned his first Academy Award® nomination for The Conversation in 1974, was awarded his first Oscar® for Apocalypse Now in 1979. In 1996, he won an unprecedented double Oscar® for Best Sound and Best Film Editing for The English Patient.