EGOT, an acronym for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards, is the designation given to people who have won all four of the major American entertainment awards.[1][2] Respectively, these awards honor outstanding achievements in television, recording, film, and Broadway theatre.[3] Achieving the EGOT has been referred to as the "grand slam" of show business.[1][4] As of 2023,[update] 18 people have won a competitive EGOT, while five others have also earned the distinction with honorary or special awards.[5]
The EGOT acronym was coined by actor Philip Michael Thomas in late 1984, when his role on the new hit show Miami Vice brought him instant fame, and he stated a desire to achieve the EGOT within five years.[6][7] Thomas has never been nominated for any of the four awards. The term gained wider recognition in the 2009/10 season of the sitcom 30 Rock, with a character seeking to achieve EGOT status.[8]
^The songwriter is the only person who has won all four awards at least twice (Emmys [3], Grammys [3], Oscars [2] and Tonys [3]). Lopez is also the youngest person to achieve EGOT status (39 years, 8 days) and completed his first EGOT in the shortest time (9 years, 8 months).
^Lopez won Daytime Emmy Awards in 2008 & 2010, followed by a Primetime Emmy Award in 2021.
Five additional artists have received all four awards, though one was bestowed for an honorary or similar non-competitive distinction: Barbra Streisand has no competitive Tony, Liza Minnelli has no competitive Grammy, and Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, and Quincy Jones have no competitive Oscar.
Activist, arranger, composer, conductor, musician, and record producer
EGOT winners synopsis
Richard Rodgers
In 1962, Richard Rodgers became the first person to win all four awards.
American composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) received his fourth distinct award in 1962. Between 1945 and 1979, Rodgers received a total of 10 competitive awards. He was the first person to win all four and was primarily a composer.
1962: Special Tony Award "for all he has done for young people in the theatre and for taking the men of the orchestra out of the pit and putting them onstage in No Strings"
1979: Special Tony Award, Lawrence Langner Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre
Helen Hayes
In 1977, Helen Hayes became the second person and first woman to win all four awards.
American actress Helen Hayes (1900–1993) received her fourth distinct award in 1977. Between 1932 and 1980, Hayes received a total of 6 competitive awards. She was the first woman and the first performer to win all four. Hayes was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting, with singular (non-group/ensemble/company) acting wins in each of the Emmy, Oscar, and Tony awards, winning her third in 1953. Counting only the first award of each type, she also has the distinction of the longest timespan (45 years) between her first and fourth award of any showbiz Grand Slam winner.
Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer Rita Moreno (born 1931) received her fourth distinct award in 1977. Between 1961 and 1978, Moreno received a total of five awards.[11] She is also the first Latina winner and the first winner to win a Grammy as their second award (both previous winners won Tonys as their second award). In addition, she became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2015 and on March 28, 2019, it was announced that she would receive a Peabody Award.
In 1991, John Gielgud became the fourth person to win all four awards, the oldest (at age 87), the first LGBT person, and the first non-American.
English actor and theatre director John Gielgud (1904–2000) received his fourth distinct award in 1991. Between 1948 and 1991, Gielgud received a total of 5 competitive awards. Gielgud was the first winner to win any award other than the Oscar as their first award (his first award was a Tony). At age 87 when he won his Emmy, he was also the oldest winner, is the first LGBT winner, and the first non-American.
1959: Special Tony Award "for contribution to theatre for his extraordinary insight into the writings of Shakespeare as demonstrated in his one-man play Ages of Man"
Audrey Hepburn
In 1994, Audrey Hepburn became the fifth person to win all four awards, and the first to do so posthumously.
British actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993) received her fourth distinct award posthumously in 1994. Between 1953 and 1994, Hepburn received a total of 4 competitive awards. She was the fifth person to complete the feat and the first to do so posthumously. She was also the first winner to win two of their awards in consecutive awards shows (the 1994 Grammys were the first Grammys since her posthumous win at the 1993 Emmys). She is one of the only two EGOT winners (the other being Jonathan Tunick) to not win multiple awards in any of the four award fields.
In 1995, Marvin Hamlisch became the sixth person to win all four awards.
American composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch (1944–2012) received his fourth distinct award in 1995. Between 1973 and 2001, Hamlisch received a total of 12 awards. Before Alan Menken joined the group in 2020, Hamlisch had the most Oscars of any Grand Slam winners (three - all won in the same year). In 1974 he became the first winner to have won a "General Field" Grammy – taking Song of the Year and Best New Artist. He was also the first Grand Slam winner to have won multiple legs of the feat for the same work – an Oscar and a Grammy for the song "The Way We Were".
American orchestrator, musical director, and composer Jonathan Tunick (born 1938) received his fourth distinct award in 1997. Between 1977 and 1997, Tunick received a total of four awards. Tunick is the first Grand Slam winner to have won an Emmy as their second award as well as the first to win the Tony as their fourth award. He is also the second person (after Audrey Hepburn) to not win multiple awards in any of the four award fields.
In 2001, Mel Brooks became the eighth person to win all four awards.
American actor, comedian, and filmmaker Mel Brooks (born 1926) received his fourth distinct award in June 2001. Between 1968 and 2002, Brooks received a total of 11 awards.[12] Brooks was the first person to win the Emmy as the first award, and the first winner to have won his Oscar for screenwriting.
In 2001, Mike Nichols became the ninth person to win all four awards.
American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian Mike Nichols (1931–2014) received his fourth distinct award in November 2001. Between 1961 and 2012, Nichols received a total of 15 awards. Nichols was the first slam winner to win the Grammy as their first award, the first winner to have won multiple awards (an Oscar, several Tonys, and two Emmys) for directing. When counting all awards won—not just the first of each type—Nichols has the longest timespan of awards among Grand Slam winners, at 51 years.
In 2002, Whoopi Goldberg became the tenth person to win all four awards, the first African American and the first to win two of their awards in the same year.
American actor, comedian, author, and television personality Whoopi Goldberg (born 1955) received her fourth distinct award in 2002. Between 1985 and 2009, Goldberg received a total of 5 competitive awards.[13] Goldberg is the first African American winner, the first to win the Oscar as their second award, and the first to win two of their different awards in the same year (she won both her first Daytime Emmy and her Tony in 2002).
1997: Special Emmy Award, Governors Award, for the seven Comic Relief Benefit Specials
Scott Rudin
American film, television, and theatre producer Scott Rudin (born 1958) received his fourth distinct award in 2012. Between 1984 and 2021, Rudin received a total of 21 awards making him, together with Alan Menken, the person with the most awards won among the people who have won all four awards in competitive categories. Rudin is the first winner who is primarily a producer.
In 2013, Robert Lopez became the twelfth person to win all four awards, the first Asian American, the youngest (at age 39), and the fastest to achieve the feat (10 years); he is also the only person to achieve multiple EGOTs.
Filipino-American songwriter Robert Lopez (born 1975) received his fourth distinct award in 2014. Between 2004 and 2021, Lopez received a total of 11 awards. His only Emmy awards were Daytime Emmys until he won a Primetime Emmy in 2021 for WandaVision. Lopez is the first Filipino and Asian to achieve this feat. He is also the youngest winner to receive all four awards in competitive categories, as well as the fastest to complete his qualifying run of EGOT award wins (9 years). He is also the second EGOT recipient (after John Legend) to have won both Primetime and Daytime Emmy Awards.
He received his Grammy Award for The Book of Mormon in collaboration with fellow EGOT winner Scott Rudin (among others), making them the first pair of Grand Slam winners to have been co-winners of the same award. Lopez is also the first person to have won the Oscar last, which he won with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez.[14]
Lopez is the first and so far the only person to win the so-called "Double EGOT", winning each EGOT award at least twice.[15][16]
In 2018, Andrew Lloyd Webber became the thirteenth person to win all four awards.
English composer and impresario of musical theatre Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948) received his fourth distinct award in 2018. Between 1980 and 2018, Lloyd Webber received a total of 11 competitive awards.
In 2018, Tim Rice became the fourteenth person to win all four awards.
English lyricist and author Tim Rice (born 1944) received his fourth distinct award in 2018. Between 1980 and 2018, Rice received a total of 12 awards, and shares some of his awards with his regular collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber.
In 2018, John Legend became the fifteenth person to win all four awards, the first African American man,[17] and first to have won both competitive Primetime and Daytime Emmy Awards.
American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer John Legend (born 1978) received his fourth distinct award in 2018. Between 2006 and 2022, Legend received a total of 18 awards. Legend has won the most Grammy Awards, 12, of any EGOT recipient, and is the first recipient who is primarily a musical performer. In addition to being the first black man to achieve EGOT status,[18] Legend is the first person to receive the four awards in four consecutive years.[19] He was also the first EGOT recipient to have won both a competitive Primetime and Daytime Emmy Award, an accomplishment matched by Robert Lopez in 2021. Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Tim Rice all simultaneously became EGOT recipients on September 9, 2018, when they were collectively awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.[20]
In 2020, Alan Menken became the sixteenth person to win all four awards.
American composer Alan Menken (born 1949) received his fourth distinct award in 2020.[21] Between 1990 and 2020, Menken received a total of 21 competitive awards. He has the most Oscar wins (8) by a grand slam winner and is the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman. He is also notable for frequently having multiple songs from the same film nominated for major awards.
1990: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Contribution to the success of the academy's anti-drug special for children – "Wonderful Ways to Say No" from the TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue
Jennifer Hudson
In 2022, Jennifer Hudson became the seventeenth person to win all four awards.
American singer, actress, and producer Jennifer Hudson (born 1981) received her fourth distinct award in 2022.[22] Between 2007 and 2022, Hudson received a total of 5 competitive awards, making her currently the youngest female EGOT winner in history.
In 2023, Viola Davis became the eighteenth person to win all four awards.
American actress and producer Viola Davis (born 1965) received her fourth distinct award in 2023.[23] Between 2001 and 2023, Davis received a total of five competitive awards. Davis acknowledged her new title upon accepting her Grammy.[24]
Five additional artists have received all four awards, though one was bestowed for an honorary or similar non-competitive distinction: Barbra Streisand has no competitive Tony, Liza Minnelli has no competitive Grammy, and Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, and Quincy Jones have no competitive Oscar.
American singer, actress, and director Barbra Streisand (born 1942) received her fourth distinct award in 1970. Between 1963 and 2001, Streisand received a total of 18 awards. Having completed the showbiz Grand Slam at age 28, she is the youngest winner, and with just six years elapsing between her first award (a 1964 Grammy) and her final award (a 1970 Special Tony), Streisand also completed the Grand Slam in the shortest amount of time. She is also the only winner to have won an Oscar in both a music and an acting category. She is also the only winner to have won all of her competitive awards for her debut performances (her first musical album, feature film and television special, respectively). She also received the Peabody Award, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the National Medal of Arts, the American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governors Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer Liza Minnelli (born 1946) received her fourth distinct award in 1990. Between 1965 and 2009, Minnelli received a total of 7 awards.
American singer, activist, and actor Harry Belafonte (born 1927) received his fourth distinct award in 2014. Between 1954 and 2014, Belafonte received a total of 6 awards.
American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer Quincy Jones (born 1933) received his fourth distinct award in 2016. Between 1964 and 2019, Jones received a total of 31 awards — the highest number of awards of any grand slam winner. He has 28 Grammy Awards and a Grammy Legend Award received in 1992.
◊ – Person has been nominated at least once for a competitive category of the missing award but has failed to win.
NCA – Person won a non-competitive award in this category (see section above).
PA – Person has won the Peabody Award
PP – Person has won the Pulitzer Prize
TC – Person has joined EGOT winners Hayes, Moreno, and Davis as winners of the Triple Crown of Acting, with singular (non-group/ensemble/company) acting wins in each of the Emmy, Oscar and Tony awards.
^With his 2012 Oscar win, Plummer became the oldest (82) to win the "Triple Crown of Acting".
^Tony Walton is the only costume/set designer to win three different awards.
^Trey Parker placed second in the narrative/dramatic division of 1993's Student Academy Awards for his college short American History.
^In 1996, Julie Andrews declined a Tony Award nomination for her role in Victor/Victoria in protest that the production received no other nominations.[27] She was also Tony-nominated for My Fair Lady and Camelot.
Three non-competitive awards
In addition to the above winners, the following people have each won three out of the four major entertainment awards in either competitive categories or non-competitive special and honorary categories.
Howard Ashman†, ◊ won two competitive Oscars, five competitive Grammy Awards, and a Special Emmy Award.
The Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards are presided over by industry bodies based in the United States, and as of 2023, 14 out of the 18 EGOT winners were American nationals. The remaining four ― John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Tim Rice ― were British. Many countries hold their own equivalent awards ceremonies honouring their own television, music, film, and theatre industries. In some cases, commentators in other countries have derived their own acronyms for individuals who have won at all four ceremonies.
Canada
In 2018, Leah Collins of CBC Arts proposed a Canadian equivalent of the EGOT: the Canadian Screen Awards (and their predecessors, the Gemini and Genie Awards) for film and television, the Juno Awards for music, and the Dora Mavor Moore Awards for theatre.[38] Toronto-based game show Trivia Club referred to this combination as the "Two-Can-Ju-Do".[39] No individual has won in all four categories.