Viola Davis Is Officially The Third Black Woman In The History of EGOT Achievers

Published: February 6, 2023 Last Updated 4 years ago by FPN

 

Viola Davis is now an EGOT achiever — after winning all the major American entertainment awards— Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.

Having won the most prestigious US awards in television, recording, film, and Broadway Theater, ‘The Woman King’ star, Viola Davis, is now considered an EGOT, the third Black Woman in history. It was a Tony award first, followed by an Oscar, an Emmy, and now a Grammy.

The 57-year-old illustrious actress at the 65^th Grammy Awards (Sunday 6th February 2023), accepted her first Grammys Award after her memoir ‘Finding Me’, won Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording award at the 2023 Grammys. She’s now the 18th individual in the history to get this honor.

Davis winning at the Grammys triumphed against other nominated audiobooks such as Mel Brooks’s All About Me, My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Aristotle And Dante Dive Into The Waters Of The World, Act Like You Got Some Sense by Jamie Foxx and Questlove’s Music Is History.

Viola Davis on her EGOT win — “I’m really emotional, my life has come full circle.” pic.twitter.com/IiPAE55sQQ

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) February 6, 2023

This achievement makes Viola Davis the 3rd Black woman in history to receive an EGOT, following Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson’s achievements.

“It has just been such a journey,” Davis said in her acceptance speech. “I just EGOT!” Davis also added that she “wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola, to honor her, to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, her everything.”

Later in the event, Davis had her big moment when she walked the stage to give the Best R&B Song award during the evening Grammy Awards event. After the audience gave her a standing ovation, she said, “I’m grateful. What a night.”

The “EGOT” status is exclusive to outstanding individuals who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards during their careers. It is also widely regarded as the pinnacle achievement in Hollywood and only 18 people have ever accomplished the feat, thus far. Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, and others are some of the prominent EGOT recipients.

Now the contemporary gramophone joins the collection of honors garnered by Viola Davis over the last 25 years of her Hollywood career. For her performance in the King Hedley II production in 2001, Davis won the first of her two Tony Awards.

The second occurred in 2010 when she received recognition for her performance in the play Fences. Seven years later, Davis received an Oscar for her part in the movie adaptation. And when Davis won the award for her work in “How to Get Away with Murder in 2015,” she made history by becoming the first Black woman to do so in the lead drama actress category at the Emmys.