Enter the World of the EGOT

When you were a child in school, you looked forward to getting that gold star from your teacher for a job well done in a class or in a competition. You looked forward to getting an award for reaching a goal that led you to the next phase of your education.

In the entertainment industry, every actor, performer and/or singer dreams (whether they admit it out loud or not) about getting an award for their work in a TV show or a box office movie, on the Broadway stage or in the world of music.

When you watch an awards show on TV or via streaming, you have undoubtedly heard the words, “It’s just an honor to be nominated,” but every single person who has ever uttered those words WANTS to win. Not everyone, obviously, does.

There are those performers who win awards in multiple categories: the Emmys, the Oscars, the Tonys and the Grammys. Getting just one of these awards is a very big deal within the entertainment industry, but getting one in each of these categories is an even more rare circumstance.

But, it’s not unheard of.

There are actually 21 people from the entertainment industry – sadly, mostly men – who have won that highly sought after EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony).

Let’s take a look at the men in this category and then we could dig a little deeper into the outstanding women who have achieved that honor.

The men who can claim EGOT after their names include:

Steven Spielberg, the famous director behind movies the Oscar-winning movies Saving Private Ryan and Schnidler’s List, Emmy winning programs Band of Brothers and The Pacific, the 2026 Grammy winning documentary Music by John Williams for which he produced and the 2022 Tony for his producing A Strange Loop

Ben Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting duo, who won an Emmy for a song in season three of Only Murders in the Building, a Tony for Dear Evan Hansen, an Oscar for La La Land and a Grammy for Dear Evan Hansen.

Sir Elton John, who won a 2023 Emmy for Best Variety Special, has also won five Grammys, an Oscar for Best Original Song for the hig single “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and a Tony for his Aida score.

Alan Menken, who is best known for his composing and songwriting within the world of Disney, is an 11 time Grammy winner, has won an Oscar for classics like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, a Tony for his score for the 2012 play Newsies and an Emmy in 2020 for Outstanding Original Song for Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.

John Legend, who in 2018 became the first African American to snag all four honors, has 12 Grammys, an Oscar for his song “Glory” from the box office movie Selma, a Tony as a co-producer for the Broadway production Jitney and an Emmy for Jesus Christ Superstar, which won for Outstanding Variety Special.

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the man behind The Phantom of the Opera and Cats musicals, won a Grammy and a Tony in 1980 as well as an Oscar in 1997 all for his work on Evita; and his work on Jesus Christ Superstar, which starred the aforementioned John Legend, earned him an Emmy since he was a producer on that production.

Sir Tim Rice, alongside Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, won the same Grammy, Tony and Oscar for Evita and the same Emmy for his work as a producer on Jesus Christ Superstar in 2018.

Robert Lopez, the well-known Disney composer, is actually a double EGOT, winning two awards in each category and in 2014 he became the youngest person ever to win all four awards. He landed an Oscar that year for “Let It Go” from the uber-popular animated film Frozen, two Daytime Emmys for the children’s show Wonder Pets, a Grammy for The Book of Mormon and Tonys for Avenue Q from 2004 and The Book of Mormon in 2011.

Scott Rudin, the well-known producer, became an Emmy winner back in 1984 for He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’ then earned a Tony for Passion in 1994 and followed that up with 14 other Tony awards. His Oscar came from the 2008 box office flick No Country for Old Men and his Grammy came from The Book of Mormon.

Mike Nichols, the long-time director, won a Grammy in 1961 for Best Comedy Performance and earned nine Tony Awards for his work on hits like Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple and then received a Best Director Oscar for The Graduate. Among the Emmys he has earned, he got one for Angels in America in 1994.

Mel Brooks, the legendary comic writer, actor and director, won Tony Awards for The Producers, which also earned him an Oscar. One of his Grammys wins was for the 1999 comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 and just some of his Emmys include his guest actor awards for Mad About You.

Jonathan Tunik, the long-time composer, won his first Oscar in 1977 for Best Original Song for A Little Night Music and then 20 years later he won a Tony for Best Orchestration for Titanic. His Emmy came in 1982 for Night of 100 Stars and a Grammy for Best Arrangement for the song “No One is Alone.”

Marvin Hamlisch, the late composer who passed away in 2012, garnered more Oscar wins than anyone else on the EGOT list and earned his first Tony from A Chous Line in 1976 (which also got him a Pulitzer Prize, by the way), took home Oscars for The Way We Were and The Sting, earned four Grammys and landed a Grammy in 1995 for Barbra: The Concert.

Sir John Gielgud, the late famous British actor, won his first Tonys in 1948 for The Importance of Being Earnest, won a Grammy in 1979 for Best Spoken Word Documentary, won an Oscar in 1984 for the movie Arthur and became the oldest EGOT winner to get all four awards in 1991 when he was 87 years old for Outstanding Lead Actor in Summer’s Lease

Richard Rodgers, part of the acclaimed composer team Rodgers and Hammerstein, actually became an EGOT long before the EGOTs were a known entity, earning an Emmy in 1962 for Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years. He won an Oscar in 1945 for Best Original Song for “It Might As Well Be Spring” from the box office flick State Fair, he won 8 Tonys for musicals like South Pacific and The King and I and Grammys for The Sound of Music and No Strings.

As for the women who have all become EGOT winners, they include:

[Photo Credit: Zoomboola]

Viola Davis, the acclaimed film, stage and TV actress, became the first Black woman to earn an Oscar, for the 2016 box office movie Fences, an Emmy, for the popular TV series How to Get Away With Murder, and a Tony for the 2001 production King Hedley II. She also won a Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording.

[Photo Credit: ABDM]

Jennifer Hudson, the former American Idol contestant who did not win that reality competition, got her Oscar for Dreamgirls in 2007, Grammys in 2009 and 2017, a Daytime Emmy for an animated short called Baba Yag and a 2022 Tony for A Strange Loop, which won for Best Musical, for which she was a co-producer.

[Photo Credit: Michael LaMonica]

Rita Moreno, the legendary actress, became the 3rd person ever (and 2nd woman) to earn double EGOT. She became an Oscar winner in 1961 for Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story; a Tony for her 1975 role in The Ritz; a Grammy for Best Recording for Children with The Electric Company and an Emmy winner for The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files. In all, it took her 16 years to earn all four awards.

[Photo Credit: ABC-Jeff Lipsky-The View]

Whoopi Goldberg, the well-known actress and regular on the daytime talk show The View, earned a Grammy in 1985 for Best Comedy Recording then took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the box office hit film Ghost. She has Daytime Emmys for The View and Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel and a Tony for Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she served as a co-producer, and which made her the first African American ever to complete an EGOT win.

[Photo Credit: Vogue-Sabrina]

Audrey Hepburn, the legendary late actress, won an Oscar for the classic 1953 film Roman Holiday and then won a Tony for her role in the play Ondine. It was after her untimely death in 1993 that she earned an Emmy win that year for the educational program Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn and then the following year she posthumously earned a Grammy for the children’s album Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales.

[Photo Credit: George Hurrell-MPTV Images]

Helen Hayes, the late classic actress who film buffs will know, but sadly few others will, earned the first of her two Oscars in 1932 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (and another one in 1970 for the box office movie Airport); won a Tony in 1947 for her performance in Happy Birthday and later for Time Remembered. She won an Emmy for Best Actress in 1953 and then garnered a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Great American Documents in 1977. It should be noted that she beat out the aforementioned Rita Moreno by only a few months in becoming the first women ever to receive the EGOT honor.

NOTE: Most of the details above are gleaned from Town and Country.

[Featured Image Photo Credit: PPCHSNews]