Only a few have done it: The ultimate list of EGOT winners

Only 21 people have secured ‘EGOT’ status by winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony - a foursome of awards which, respectively, recognise outstanding achievement in the worlds of television, music, film and Broadway theatre.

How did the term ‘EGOT’ come about?

Miami Vice actor Philip Michael Thomas is credited with coining the acronym in 1984, when he told an Associated Press interview that he had set himself the goal of winning all four accolades.

Thomas even took to wearing an ‘EGOT’ medallion, albeit he later claimed in an interview with People magazine that the letters actually stood for “energy, growth, opportunity and talent”. Although the 75-year-old has picked up a People’s Choice award during his career, however, he has never won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar or Tony. Indeed, he has never been nominated.

30 Rock plot grows ‘EGOT’ exposure

While the term ‘EGOT’ has been around for the last four decades, it didn’t earn its current prominence in show-business parlance until 2009, when it began to feature in a recurring subplot in the comedy TV series 30 Rock.

In the NBC show’s fourth season, the fictional movie star Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) encounters a medallion bearing the letters ‘EGOT’ as he looks for a present for his wife in a jewellery store. When the shop assistant explains what the acronym stands for, Tracy buys the medallion and sets about trying to do the awards quadruple, declaring: “That’s a good goal for a talented crazy person.”

Who has won an ‘EGOT’?

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. Notably, British musician Elton John, 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 delayed 2023 Primetime Emmys in January.

John was then joined in the ‘EGOT’ club during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, when Benj Pasek and Justin Paul were among a four-person team of songwriters that scooped the prize for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.

Pasek and Paul, who earned their Emmy for the song “Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?” in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, both also have one Oscar, two Grammys and two Tonys on their resumés.

Non-competitive ‘EGOT’ winners

Meanwhile, six artists - Barbra Streisand, Liza Minelli, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte, Quincy Jones and Frank Marshall - have managed what is known as a ‘non-competitive EGOT’. This means that they have received awards at each of the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys, but needed at least one honorary accolade - such as a lifetime-achievement prize - to complete a clean sweep.

Which show won the most 2025 Emmy awards?

The Studio won the most awards at the 77th Primetime Emmys, with 13. Three shows tied for second place with nine awards: Adolescence, Severance and The Penguin.

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