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Does Viola Davis Have an EGOT?
She's definitely an award winner, but did she complete the quadruple win?
The few, the proud, the EGOT winners. The acronym, which stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, is considered the highest bar of achievement for people in the entertainment industry, as it represents the ultimate success on television, in music/recording, in movies, and on stage. In order to have EGOT status, you have to have won all four awards.
And it's not just performers who win. Producers and composers sometimes work their way to EGOT status, and it's actually pretty rare that an actor can win in all four arenas. But if anyone can pull it off, it'd be Viola Davis.
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Does Viola Davis have an EGOT?
She certainly does! While promoting her upcoming Hunger Games prequel, Davis stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where the Host reminded her that since their last meeting, she'd scored a Grammy for her recording of her memoir, Becoming Me. That was the last piece of the puzzle, and Davis is now a certified EGOT.
Fallon asked the multi award-winner if she ever looked at her trophies lined up, to which the Juilliard grad responded, "I don’t look at it! No, I just told a boldfaced lie on national TV. As soon as I got that Grammy in the mail, I put that Grammy, that Tony, that Oscar, that Emmy, and I took a fabulous picture."
Davis hasn't shown that picture (yet), but she did subtly acknowledge her EGOT status on Instagram when she re-posed a meme of herself: This Barbie is an EGOT winner.
She also joked that she can retire now that's she's hit the quadruple crown of entertainment, and when Fallon protested, she flexed her accomplishments: "I can do whatever I want, I’m an EGOT." Yes, she is!
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How did Viola Davis get her EGOT?
As noted, Davis won a Grammy in 2023 for her audiobook recording. Her Oscar comes from her supporting role in 2016 opposite Denzel Washington in Fences. Her Emmy is for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series from the first season of How To Get Away with Murder in 2015, and she actually has two Tonys: for Leading Actress in a Play for Fences in 2010, and for Featured Actress in a Play for King Hedley II in 2001. In addition to her wins, she has multiple Emmy, Oscar and Tony nominations.
Her Emmy is an especially important milestone not just in her career but in television history. Davis was the first African-American woman to win in the category in Emmys history, though thankfully not the last. Since Davis's win, Euphoria star Zendaya has taken home the trophy twice. Is she on her way to EGOT status, too?
