Viola Davis recently opened up about her childhood and revealed that she grew up in abject poverty.

During Variety's Power of Women luncheon on Friday, the Oscar-nominated actress, who also stars in the new ABC series "How to Get Away With Murder," gave a powerful speech about her early years in which she lived in rat-infested buildings and was forced to dive in dumpsters for food.

"Now I'm crying," said Davis as she accepted an award for her work with the Hunger Is campaign, which strives to raise awareness about childhood hunger in the U.S. "I didn't expect to come here and cry. I expected to come and drink lots of Champagne."

"I didn't join the Hunger Is campaign to save the world. I didn't," said the 49-year-old actress. "I set out to save myself. You know, they say that you're never too old to have a happy childhood and although my childhood was filled with many happy memories it was also spent in abject poverty."

Davis went into rousing detail about her childhood.

"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," she continued. "I've stolen the food, I've jumped in huge garbage bins with maggots for food, I have befriended people in the neighborhood 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."

Davis was born in South Carolina but grew up in Central Falls, Rhode Island. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 30 percent of the population, made up of approximate 19,000 residents, currently lives below the poverty line.

"That's me. That's who I remember every time I wake up. She speaks to me, this little girl. She kinda guides me," said Davis. "Sometimes in not-so-good ways, you know, like with boyfriends and everything, she was really not good."

"I'm very honored to have this award, honestly, I didn't need it but I love it," the actress continued. "And really, it is my honor to serve-you know, they say, 'To serve is to love,' and I think to serve is to heal, too, my life, you know, and to satisfy the little girl."

"I spent the majority of my childhood being raised in condemned buildings infested with rats," said the two-time Academy Award nominee. "I was the child who went to bed hungry every single night. And what it motivated me to do, a child who had an enormous amount of intelligence and integrity and imagination, it encouraged me to steal food, it encouraged me to jump in dumpsters that were infested with maggots for food. It encouraged me to even befriend people who I knew had mothers who cooked them three meals a day, it encouraged me to befriend them so that I could go over to their house and have a meal."

Finally, Davis told the crowd that she is "constantly motivated" by "that child," adding, "Hopefully in your minds, you can see her and you're constantly motivated by her too."