Actress Viola Davis Achieves EGOT Status After Grammy Win

Actress Viola Davis Achieves Coveted EGOT Status After Grammy Win

By Regina Sienra on February 6, 2023

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On top of being a fierce advocate for inclusion, actress Viola Davis is known for her powerful performances across multiple media. Now, the versatility of her talents has earned her the coveted EGOT status—a title award to those who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. After earning the trophy for Best Audiobook, Narration and Storytelling Recording for her memoir Finding Me at the 2023 Grammy ceremony, Davis has become only the 18th person ever to win the top accolades in TV, music, film, and theater.

The book, and the audio version that got her the final award, explores her career path as well as her experiences with racism, sexism, bullying and poverty growing up. “In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever,” reads Finding Me‘s blurb. “This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.”

During her acceptance speech, in which she thanked her publishers and her loved ones, Davis said, “I wrote this book to honor 6-year-old Viola, to honor her life. Her joy. Her trauma, everything. And it has been such a journey. I just EGOT! To everyone who has been a part of my story, and the best chapter yet.”

Davis had previously won two Tony Awards, once in 2001 for King Hedley II and another in 2010 for the play Fences. She then reprised her role for the movie adaptation, which got her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2017. Two years prior, she had won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role on the legal drama thriller How to Get Away with Murder.

The actress is only the third Black woman to achieve the EGOT after Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson did in 2002 and 2022, respectively. “Hold the line !!!!!!! Viola Davis just became EGOT #18 !!! Omg,” Hudson tweeted in celebration. “U are absolutely everything ! Congratulations to a living LEGEND. Time to celebrate !!!”

Davis has described this moment as “full-circle,” as her past self would be very proud of her achievement. “I wrote this book because I was trying to reconcile my life, I was trying to honor the young Viola. I wanted her to be excited at the 57-year-old she gets to become and this is just the icing on the cake,” she said in a red carpet interview.

To learn more about Davis’ storied career from the actress herself, you can purchase a copy of her memoir, Finding Me on Bookshop.