Viola Davis used to crawl through bins filled with maggots in order to find food.
The 49-year-old actress went to extreme lengths to stay alive when she was growing up in Rhode Island as she and her family battled "abject poverty."
Speaking at Variety’s Power of Women event in Los Angeles last night (10.10.14), she explained: "Although my childhood was filled with many happy memories, it was also spent in abject poverty.
"I was one of the 17 million kids in this country who didn’t know where the next meal was coming from, and I did everything to get food.
"I have stolen for food. I have jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots for food. I have befriended people in the neighbourhood, who I knew had mothers who cooked three meals a day for food, and I sacrificed a childhood for food and grew up in immense shame."
The brunette beauty went on to secure a place at Rhode Island College and has since won two Tony Awards and been nominated for two Oscar prizes.
She said: "Everyone should grow up and have a chance at the American dream. The stain in this country is that one out of every five children in this country are living in households that are food-poor.
"And of all the elementary school teachers out there they say three out of every five kids in their class come to school hungry. In the richest country in the world."
Viola is now involved in the Hunger Is campaign, which is dedicated to raising awareness and money for hungry children and their families in the US.
Viola Davis crawled through bins for food
