Viola Davis' Grammy win means she has EGOT status

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Viola Davis has achieved the sought after EGOT status

Viola Davis winning a Grammy
(Image credit: Emma McIntyre / Getty Staff)

Viola Davis is an EGOT winner after winning a Grammy for the audiobook version of her autobiography Finding Me. That means the actor has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. 

Davis won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2017 for her role in Fences and won an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for How to Get Away with Murder in 2015. She has won two Tony awards: one for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2001 for King Hedley II and another in 2010 for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her performance in Fences. Her Best Audiobook, Narration & Storytelling Recording Grammy finishes the quartet and launches her to EGOT status. 

"I wrote this book to honor the six year old Viola, to honor her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything. And it has just been such a journey. I just EGOT!" Davis said during her Grammy acceptance speech, to massive applause. 

Davis' upcoming projects include Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes, as well as Air, set to be directed by Ben Affleck and focusing on the story of Michael Jordan's association with Nike. 

What is an EGOT?

Oscars

(Image credit: Getty Images)

An EGOT means an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony win. There are only 18 EGOT winners total, now including Davis. The rest of the list includes the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, and Robert Lopez – the latter is also the first person to win all four awards twice. 

The acronym was coined by Miami Vice's Philip Michael Thomas in 1984, though he has yet to be nominated for any of the awards. 

Get planning 2023's theater trips with our guide to the all the major upcoming movie release dates. 

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

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