Creative people have to do a lot to win any kind of award. Actors and directors fight hard to win an Oscar, and musicians do the same to get noticed at the Grammys. Few people ever get the chance to accept an award from one of the most popular award organizations. However, there is an even more exclusive club of award winners, made up of only a few people from a wide range of entertainment fields: those lucky few who have won the coveted EGOT.
The EGOT is a feat of getting the most prestigious awards in each field: Emmys for TV, Grammys for music, Oscars for movies, and Tonys for Broadway. Philip Michael Thomas, who starred on the TV show Miami Vice, came up with the term. He said he would get the award within five years of leaving the show. The club has recently grown, with Viola Davis becoming the most recent member after the 2023 Grammys. It will be interesting to look at all the other people who have earned the coveted EGOT status. This is a list of everyone who has ever won the EGOT, along with an explanation of what they were honored for.
Alan Menken
Composer Alan Menken won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Song in 2020, making him the next person to win the EGOT. He has won eight Oscars, which is more than any other person who has won the EGOT. He is also the second person who has won the most Oscars for music. All of Menken’s Oscars were for Best Original Song or Best Original Score. His 11 Grammys were for different things, and his Tony was for his work on the revival of “Newsies.”
Andrew Lloyd Weber
He was a theater composer and producer. Andrew Lloyd Weber finally got his EGOT in 2018, when he won his 11th award in a competition. In addition to his six Tonys, he also has an Oscar for Best Original Song, an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special, and three Grammys for different things.
Audrey Hepburn
The legendary British actress and star Audrey Hepburn is the fifth person to get the EGOT, and she was the first to do it after her death, since she got her Grammy and Emmy after she died. Hepburn won an Oscar for her role in Roman Holiday, an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement, a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, and a Tony for her role in Ondine.
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand got her last award in 1970, making her the youngest person to complete the EGOT. She also did it the fastest, with only six years between her first and last award. Streisand has won two Oscars for Best Actress and one for Best Original Song. She also has five Emmys, ten Grammys, and a Special Tony Award, which is what made her an EGOT in the first place.
Helen Hayes
American actress Helen Hayes was the first woman to win the EGOT. She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting, which means she won an Emmy, an Oscar, and a Tony for her work. She won two Oscars (for Lead and Supporting Actress), an Emmy for Best Actress, a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Recording, and two Tonys for acting.
Harry Belafonte
Singer, protester, and actor. In 2014, when he won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards, Harry Belafonte completed his EGOT. Belafonte also had an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performance, three Grammys for different awards, and a Tony for Best Featured Actor.
James Earl
Jones got his EGOT in 2011 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an honorary award for his contributions to the arts. His other awards include two Emmys for Outstanding Acting Performance, a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Recording, two Tonys for Best Acting, and a Special Tony award from 2017.
Jennifer Hudson
She acts, sings, and writes songs. Jennifer Hudson got her EGOT in 2022, which made her the youngest woman in history to get it. She won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, Outstanding Interactive Media in a Program at the Emmys, two Grammys for different things, and Best Musical for A Strange Loop at the Tony Awards.
John Gielgud
Actor and theater director from England John Gielgud was the fourth person to get the EGOT, and he was the first person to get the honor whose first award wasn’t an Oscar. He was also the first and oldest person to win the award. He was 87 years old when he won. He won an Oscar for his role in Arthur, an Emmy for acting, a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Recording, and several Tonys for both acting and directing.
John Legend
Famous singer, songwriter, and pianist John Legend completed his EGOT in 2018 when he won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special for his role in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. This is the same award as the two above. Legend also has an Oscar for Best Original Song, 12 Grammys for different achievements, and a Tony for his work on Jitney.
Jonathan Tunick
The next person to get the honor was orchestrator, songwriter, and composer Jonathon Tunick. Like Hepburn, he was one of the EGOT winners who had never won more than one award from any awards body. Tunick won an Oscar for Best Music, an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Direction, a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement, and a Tony for Best Orchestrations.
Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli was given the EGOT after she won the Grammy Legend Award in 1990. She is an actress, a singer, a choreographer, and a great entertainer. Her other awards include an Oscar for Best Actress for her work in Cabaret, an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Program the same year, and four Tony Awards, including a Special Award the same year she won her Oscar and Emmy.
Marvin Hamlisch
composer and music leader Marvin Hamlisch was the sixth person to get the EGOT. He also had the most Oscars in this group until Alan Menken joined the club. Hamlisch won three Oscars in 1973 for Best Song and Best Score. He also won four Emmys, four Grammys, and a Tony for Best Musical Score over the course of his career.
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks, a comedian and filmmaker, has always been one to make a point, and he did so when he got his EGOT in 2001. Brooks was the first person to win both an Emmy and an Oscar for screenwriting as his first two awards. He also won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album and Tonys for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Score.
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols, who is famous for directing Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate, was the next person to get his EGOT. He was the first person to win more than one award for directing, and it took him 51 years to complete his EGOT, which was the longest time span of any winner. He won an Oscar for Best Director for The Graduate, four Emmys for different things, a Grammy for Best Comedic Performance, and a huge nine Tonys for different things.
Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones is a legendary record producer, musician, songwriter, and master of all things black in entertainment. He has won a total of 31 separate awards. Even though he has 28 Grammys in different categories, he only has one Tony for The Color Purple and one Emmy for his musical contributions to Roots. He was also given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy, making him the only other winner of the EGOT to have that honor.
Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers got the EGOT in 1962. He was one half of the famous composing team Rodgers and Hammerstein. He was the first person to get the coveted EGOT, even though it wasn’t called that at the time. He won an Academy Award for Best Song, an Emmy for Original Music Composition, a Grammy for Best Show Album, and six Tony Awards for his many contributions to the world of stage musicals.
Rita Moreno
She is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actress. Rita Moreno was the first Latina to win the EGOT, and she was only the third person to win the award ever. She also joins an even smaller group of people by getting the PEGOT. Mike Nichols and Barbra Streisand are other people who have won the EGOT. She won an Oscar for West Side Story, two Emmys for acting, a Grammy for Best Recording for Children, and a Tony for Best Featured Actress.
Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez, who is from the Philippines, was the first Asian person to win the EGOT. He won a total of 11 awards along the way. He is the youngest person to get the EGOT, and he did it the fastest. It took him only nine years to qualify for the EGOT. He won two Oscars for Best Song, three Emmys for Outstanding Musical Direction, three Grammys for different things, and three Tonys for different things.
Scott Rudin
Producer extraordinaire In 2012, Scott Rudin won the EGOT, which tied him with Alan Menken for the most individual awards with 21. He is the only winner of the EGOT who is best known for making movies. He won an amazing 18 Tonys, an Oscar for Best Picture, a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, and an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program, which made up his EGOT.
Tim Rice
Tim Rice, who writes lyrics and books, also got his EGOT in 2018. He shares some of his 12 awards with Andrew Lloyd Weber, who also has an EGOT. Rice has won three Oscars for Best Original Song, an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special, five Grammys, and three Tonys, all for different things.
Viola Davis
Viola Davis is the most recent person to get this honor. She recently won a Grammy for Best Audiobook Narration, which was the last piece of her EGOT. She also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences, an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and two Tonys for her roles in Fences and King Hedley II.
The next five EGOT winners are listed separately because one of their awards was not in a competitive field. They still need to be recognized for what they have done, but to keep things organized, they will be listed separately.
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg was the first African American to win the EGOT, and she was also the first person to win two different awards in the same year. In 2002, she won her first Emmy and Tony. In addition to her Emmy and Tony for The View and Thoroughly Modern Millie, she won an Oscar for her acting in Ghost and a Grammy for the best comedy album. This gave her a grand slam of awards.