Emmys, Tonys and Grammys are not enough: This actress has the chance to win an ‘EGOT’ at the 2025 Oscars
One of the entertainment industry’s most select clubs may have a new member after this weekend’s Academy Awards.
Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo has the opportunity to join an exclusive show-business club at this weekend’s Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
If Erivo wins a golden statuette at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, the actor and singer will have an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony on her career resumé.
So far, only 21 people in history have secured ‘EGOT’ status by winning a clean sweep of the four major performing-arts awards, which honor achievement in the worlds of television, music, film and Broadway theatre, respectively.
Which Oscar has Erivo been nominated for?
Erivo, 38, is up for the Best Actress accolade at the 97th Academy Awards, for her performance in the musical fantasy film Wicked - a box-office smash hit that has been nominated for a total of 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.
When did Erivo win her Emmy, Grammy and Tony?
Erivo took her first step towards a potential ‘EGOT’ in 2016, when she won the Tony for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, for her portrayal of Celie in the Broadway show The Color Purple.
The following year, the production earned her a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, before the cast also shared a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program, after putting on songs from The Color Purple on NBC’s Today Show.
Erivo hails “unbelievable recognition”
Reacting to her Oscar nomination last month, Erivo wrote on social media: “Moments like this don’t come along very often, and when they do, it is sacrilege to let them pass by without a moment of gratitude.
“I am grateful, grateful to @theacademy, grateful to be a part of something that makes people feel seen, grateful to be a cog in the wheel of a piece that makes us believe in magic, grateful to have experienced a dream come true, and deeply deeply grateful for this unbelievable recognition.”
Who has won an ‘EGOT’ so far?
Of the 21 winners of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony, songwriter and playwright Robert Lopez stands alone as the only individual to have clinched a ‘double EGOT’ by receiving each award twice.
In 2024, there were three new ‘EGOT’ winners, including Elton John. The British musician, who had previously collected two Oscars, five Grammys and a Tony, clinched a career ‘grand slam’ when he won Outstanding Live Variety Special at the Primetime Emmys.
Other members of the ‘EGOT’ club include Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, John Legend and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Check out the full list.
Who coined the term ‘EGOT’?
The actor Philip Michael Thomas, best known for his role as detective Ricardo Tubbs on the TV crime drama Miami Vice, is credited with coming up with the acronym in 1984, when he told an interview with the Associated Press that his goal was to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony
Thomas even began wearing an ‘EGOT’ medallion, although he later claimed in an interview with People that the letters actually stood for “energy, growth, opportunity and talent”. He never won, or received a nomination for, any of the four major entertainment awards.
When are the 2025 Academy Awards?
The 2025 Oscars, which are to be hosted by the comedian Conan O’Brien, are to take place at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT on Sunday, March 2.
The ceremony will be broadcast live in the United States by ABC. You can stream ABC on the online platform fubo, which offers a free trial.
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