Tonia Davis serves as Head of Motion Pictures for Higher Ground, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s media company. President and Mrs. Obama formed Higher Ground to produce powerful stories to entertain, inform, and inspire, and to lift up new, diverse voices in the entertainment industry. The company’s first film release, American Factory, won the 2019 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. At Higher Ground, Davis executive produced Becoming, directed by Nadia Hallgren, the Oscar®-nominated documentary Crip Camp, the company’s first television series Waffles + Mochi, as well as the animated series Ada Twist, Scientist which debuted in 2021 to wide acclaim. Under Davis' leadership, the company also presented the feature films Fatherhood, starring Kevin Hart, which broke viewing records around the globe, and Worth, based on Kenneth Feinberg's memoir What Is Life Worth? Her most recent credits include Producer on George C. Wolfe’s Bayard Rustin biopic, Executive Producer on Sam Esmail's Leave the World Behind, and Executive Producer on the upcoming Netflix television series, Bodkin, starring Will Forte.
Davis previously oversaw development for TV and film productions at Chernin Entertainment and served as an executive producer on the Amy Schumer comedy Snatched, as well as on the original musical The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman. Davis previously worked for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, where she played a key role in the production of their recent live action feature remakes, including The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast.
Davis is a past member of the Executive Circle for AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, a founding member of Time’s Up’s Who’s In The Room mentorship program, and a board member of LIFT, a national non-profit focused on poverty reduction.
Before working in entertainment, she was an organizer in New Mexico during the 2004 Presidential cycle, and ran a private relief organization in post-Katrina New Orleans. Davis is a graduate of Wellesley College.
