The 57-year-old won the prestigious music award in the Best Audio Book category for recording her memoirs Finding Me. Davis won an Oscar in 2016 for Best Supporting Actress in Motion Picture fences. She already had two Tony’s in the closet for theater roles. A year before her Oscar win, she also picked up an Emmy for best actress in a television series How To Get Away With Murder.
The actress gave an emotional speech as she took the stage to receive her award. ,,Oh my God. I just have an EGOT. I wrote this book to honor 6-year-old Viola, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything,” Davis said. “It’s just been such a huge journey.”
The actress is the eighteenth person ever to achieve EGOT status. The first artist to collect the four coveted prizes was composer Richard Rodgers in 1962. Singer Jennifer Hudson, singer John Legend, actress Rita Moreno and composers Alan Menken and Andrew Lloyd Webber followed.
There is only one person with a ‘double EGOT’; Robert Lopez, who wrote the musical The Book of Mormon and the songs of Disney film Frozen, among other things. He has three Emmys, Grammys and Tonys and two Oscars to his credit.