The 2023 Emmy Award nominations are here, and many award watcher are wondering one thing: who will EGOT this year? An acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, the EGOT is Hollywood's grand slam of awards, and only a handful of celebrities (like Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, Mel Brooks, and Jennifer Hudson [1]) have made the list. During the 2022-2023 award season, another icon joined the storied group: Viola Davis, who won at the 2023 Grammys [2] for narrating the audiobook of her memoir, "Finding Me."
The term EGOT was created by Philip Michael Thomas, an actor who shot to fame for his role in "Miami Vice" and coined the term [3] in 1984 but who never actually ended up winning any of the awards. The first person to ever truly achieve EGOT status was Richard Rodgers, who gained the title in 1962 after winning an Emmy for original music composed for "Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years." The only person, thus far, to EGOT twice is songwriter Robert Lopez [4], who made history in 2018 when he won at the Oscars for the song "Remember Me" from "Coco," [5] meaning that he won each of the awards at least twice. His wife and creative partner, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, has shared many of those honors with him, but she's still a Tony away from her own EGOT.
Meanwhile, a number of stars are waiting in the wings for their shot at EGOT glory. Cynthia Erivo, Lily Tomlin, Ben Platt, and Lin-Manuel Miranda [6] only need Oscars to win, and stars like Taylor Swift [7], Adele, Jodie Comer, Lizzo [8], and H.E.R. are halfway there. Plus, if Elton John wins the 2023 Emmy award for outstanding variety special [9], he'll finally join the EGOT club. Wondering who else is making progress? Keep reading to find out.
Elton John
- Has: Two Oscars for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "I'm Gonna Love Me Again"; six Grammys for "Candle in the Wind 1997," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Basque," "That's What Friends are For," and "Aida," which also landed him a Tony in 2000
- Needs: An Emmy
Jodie Comer
- Has: A Tony for "Prima Facie" in 2023, and an Emmy for "Killing Eve" from 2019
- Needs: An Oscar and a Grammy
Taylor Swift
- Has: An Emmy for original interactive program and Grammys for "Fearless," "1989," "White Horse," "Mean," "Safe & Sound," "Bad Blood," and "Folklore"
- Needs: An Oscar and a Tony
Jamie Foxx
- Has: An Oscar for his role in "Ray" and two Grammys for "Gold Digger" and "Blame It"
- Needs: A Tony and an Emmy
Neil Patrick Harris
- Has: Four Emmys for hosting the Tony Awards and guest-starring on "Glee" and a Tony for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
- Needs: A Grammy and an Oscar
Justin Timberlake
- Has: An Emmy for guest actor in a comedy series on "SNL" and Grammys for "What Goes Around . . . Comes Around," "Sexy Love," "My Love," "LoveStoned," and "Cry Me a River"
- Needs: An Oscar and a Tony
Adele
- Has: An Oscar for "Skyfall"; nine Grammys for "Rolling in the Deep," "Someone Like You," "Set Fire to the Rain," and "25"; and an Emmy for "Adele: One Night Only"
- Needs: A Tony
Catherine Zeta-Jones
- Has: An Oscar for her role in "Chicago" and a Tony for "A Little Night Music"
- Needs: An Emmy and a Grammy
Cynthia Nixon
- Has: An Emmy for "Sex and the City [11]," a Grammy for "An Inconvenient Truth," and a Tony for "Rabbit Hole"
- Needs: An Oscar
Cher
- Has: An Oscar for "Moonstruck," an Emmy for "Cher: The Farewell Tour," and a Grammy for "Believe"
- Needs: A Tony
Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Has: Tonys for "In the Heights" and "Hamilton," an Emmy for the 67th Tony Awards, and Grammys for "In the Heights" and "Hamilton"
- Needs: An Oscar
Donald Glover
- Has: A Grammy for "Redbone" and two Emmys for "Atlanta"
- Needs: An Oscar and a Tony
Martin Scorsese
- Has: An Emmy for HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," a Grammy for the music video for "American Masters: No Direction Home," and an Oscar for "The Departed"
- Needs: A Tony
Denzel Washington
- Has: Two Oscars for "Glory" and "Training Day" and a Tony for "Fences"
- Needs: A Grammy and an Emmy
Hugh Jackman
- Has: An Emmy for his performance at the 2004 Tony Awards, a Grammy for producing "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack, and two Tonys: one for "The Boy From Oz" and one special award for extraordinary contribution to the theatre community in 2012
- Needs: An Oscar
Lizzo
- Has: Three Grammys for "Cuz I Love You," "Truth Hurts," and "Jerome" and an Emmy for "Lizzo's Watch Out For the Big Grrrls"
- Needs: An Oscar and a Tony
Ben Platt
- Has: A Tony and a Grammy for "Dear Evan Hansen" and a Daytime Emmy for performing a song from the show on TV
- Needs: An Oscar
Jeremy Irons
- Has: An Oscar for "Reversal of Fortune," two Emmys for "Elizabeth I" and "The Great War and Shaping of the 20th Century," and a Tony for "The Real Thing"
- Needs: A Grammy
Common
- Has: An Oscar for "Glory"; three Grammys for "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)," "Southside," and "Stand Up For Something"; and an Emmy for "13th"
- Needs: A Tony
Kate Winslet
- Has: Emmys for "Mildred Pierce" and "Mare of Easttown," an Oscar for "The Reader," and a Grammy for "Listen to the Storyteller"
- Needs: A Tony
Julie Andrews
- Has: An Oscar for "Mary Poppins," two Emmys for "The Julie Andrews Hour" and "Broadway: The American Musical," and two 2011 Grammys — one for "Julie Andrews's Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies" and a Lifetime Achievement Award
- Needs: A Tony
Al Pacino
- Has: An Oscar for "Scent of a Woman," two Emmys for "You Don't Know Jack" and "Angels in America," and two Tonys for "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" and "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?"
- Needs: A Grammy
Bryan Cranston
- Has: Three Emmys for "Breaking Bad" and a Tony for "All the Way"
- Needs: A Grammy and an Oscar
Eminem
- Has: An Oscar for "8 Mile"; an Emmy for the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show; and 15 Grammys for "The Slim Shady LP," "Lose Yourself," "The Eminem Show," "Relapse," and "The Marshall Mathers LP 2"
- Needs: A Tony
Sam Smith
- Has: An Oscar and five Grammys
- Needs: An Emmy and a Tony
Geoffrey Rush
- Has: An Oscar for "Shine," an Emmy for "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," and a Tony for "Exit the King"
- Needs: A Grammy
Jessica Lange
- Has: Oscars for "Tootsie" and "Blue Sky," Emmys for "Grey Gardens," "American Horror Story [12]," and "American Horror Story: Coven," and a Tony for "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
- Needs: A Grammy
Laurie Metcalf
- Has: A Tony for "A Doll's House, Part 2" and three Emmys for "Roseanne"
- Needs: An Oscar and a Grammy
Rami Malek
- Has: An Oscar for "Bohemian Rhapsody" and an Emmy for "Mr. Robot"
- Needs: A Tony and a Grammy
Billy Porter
- Has: A Grammy for "Kinky Boots," an Emmy for "Pose," and a Tony for "Kinky Boots"
- Needs: An Oscar
Cynthia Erivo
- Has: A Tony, Grammy, and Emmy for "The Color Purple"
- Needs: An Oscar
H.E.R.
- Has: An Oscar for "Judas and the Black Messiah [13]" and five Grammys
- Needs: A Tony and an Emmy
Lily Tomlin
- Has: Seven Emmys, a Grammy for "This Is a Recording," and a Tony for "The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe"
- Needs: An Oscar
Cyndi Lauper
- Has: An Emmy for "Mad About You," two Grammys, and a Tony for "Kinky Boots"
- Needs: An Oscar
Leslie Odom Jr.
- Has: A Tony and a Grammy for "Hamilton"
- Needs: An Emmy and an Oscar
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
- Has: A Grammy and two Tonys for "Dear Evan Hansen" and an Oscar for "City of Stars" from "La La Land"
- Needs: An Emmy
Kristen Anderson-Lopez
- Has: Two Oscars for "Let It Go" and "Remember Me," two Grammys for "Frozen," and an Emmy for "Agatha All Along"
- Needs: A Tony