Jennifer Hudson’s an EGOT Winner: What Does That Mean?
Multi-hyphenate Jennifer Hudson added a new title to her long professional resume at the 75th annual Tony Awards. She joined an exclusive club of entertainers who are EGOT winners. Less than 20 individuals have achieved this status thus far. What is an EGOT? Who else is in entertainment’s exclusive club of EGOT winners?
What does the phrase EGOT mean?
Actor Phillip Michael Thomas, who played Ricardo Tubbs on television’s Miami Vice from 1984 through 1990, reportedly coined the phrase EGOT.
Vanity Fair reported that at the height of Miami Vice‘s success, Thomas wore a gold medallion emblazoned with the letters EGOT, which stood for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Thomas told an interviewer in 1984, “Hopefully, in the next five years, I will win all of those awards.”
EGOT subsequently symbolized achievement in the performing arts.
However, a fourth season episode of 30 Rock titled Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001 in 2009 brought the phrase into public consciousness.
In the episode, Tracy Morgan searches for a gift for his wife at Yakov’s Nubian Bling Explosion.
A large, diamond-encrusted medallion catches his eye: reportedly Thomas’ infamous necklace.
The clerk tells Morgan the medallion belonged to Philip Michael Thomas. He explains that EGOT is a goal and stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
From that moment on, EGOT describes entertainers who win all four top industry awards.
How did Jennifer Hudson become an EGOT winner?
CAN YOU BELIEVE WE GOT @IAMJHUD HER EGOT !?! pic.twitter.com/40Wb0zy874
— A Strange Loop on Broadway (@StrangeLoopBway) June 13, 2022
Hudson won a Tony Award during the 75th annual ceremony on June 12. The show was hosted by Hamilton and West Side Story actor Ariana DeBose.
The American Theater Wing honored the entertainer for her work as a producer on the musical A Strange Loop, which also took home a Tony Award for Best Musical at the annual awards show celebrating Broadway’s best.
Hudson won her first award, an Oscar, for her role in 2007’s Dreamgirls.
She also is a two-time Grammy winner. Hudson won in 2017 for her part in the Broadway cast album of The Color Purple and in 2009 for her self-titled debut in the Best R&B album category.
The American Idol alum subsequently won a 2021 Daytime Emmy for the animated short Baba Yaga.
Who else is in the entertainment industry’s exclusive club?
Hudson is only the 17th person to achieve this exclusive industry honor. At the age of 40, she is also the youngest.
She joins the following list of legendary performers to have won all four top awards.
These include Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, and Jonathan Tunick.
Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin, Robert Lopez, John Legend, Tim Rice, Alan Menken, and Andrew Lloyd Webber are also EGOT winners.
