Sophia Michaels
It’s award season and for some, that means one thing: who will become the next EGOT winner? EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, the four awards that make up Hollywood’s grand slam. So far, only a few celebrities have achieved this feat, such as Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, Mel Brooks, and Jennifer Hudson. This year, Viola Davis joined the exclusive club after winning a Grammy for narrating her memoir audiobook, “Finding Me.”
The term EGOT was coined by actor Philip Michael Thomas in 1984, although he never won any of the awards himself. The first person to truly EGOT was Richard Rodgers in 1962, who won an Emmy for composing music for “Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years.” Robert Lopez is the only person to have achieved EGOT twice, making history in 2018 when he won an Oscar for the song “Remember Me” from “Coco.” His wife and creative partner, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, is just one Tony away from her own EGOT.
A number of stars are close to joining the EGOT club. Cynthia Erivo, Lily Tomlin, Ben Platt, and Lin-Manuel Miranda need only an Oscar to win, while Taylor Swift, Adele, Lizzo, and H.E.R. are halfway there. Who else is making progress? Only time will tell.
