Viola Davis accepts the award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. AFP
Viola Davis accepts the award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. AFP
Viola Davis accepts the award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. AFP
Viola Davis accepts the award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. AFP

Viola Davis achieves Egot status at 2023 Grammy Awards


Maan Jalal
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Actress Viola Davis has achieved the rare and sought-after Egot status at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, making her the third black woman in history to have done so.

Reaching this status means that a performer has won all four major American entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.

Davis won the Grammy for her performance of the audiobook for her memoir, Finding Me.

“I wrote this book to honour the six-year-old Viola, to honour her life, her joy, her everything and it’s been such a journey, I just Egot!” an emotional Davis said in her acceptance speech.

The actress also thanked “everybody who has been part of my story” and called her husband, actor Julius Tennon, and their daughter Genesis Tennon “the best chapter yet”.

Previously, Davis had won an Emmy for her performance in the Shonda Rhimes TV series How To Get Away with Murder in 2015 and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Fences in 2017, in which she starred alongside Denzel Washington. She won two Tony awards for her performances on the stage in King Hedley II in 2001, then again for the stage version of Fences in 2010.

In Finding Me, the actress details her life growing up in Rhode Island — where she experienced racism and bullying — and her move to New York, where she pursued her dream of performing and how she found success and fame.

In the Grammys 2023 audiobook category, Davis was nominated alongside musician Questlove for his book with Ben Greenman, Music is History; composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda for his recording of the New York Times bestselling young adult novel Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Saenz; actor Jamie Foxx’s performance for his book Act Like You Got Some Sense; and actor Mel Brooks, also an Egot winner, for his audiobook of All About Me!.

Only 17 other performers have reached the status of Egot, and Davis is the fourth black person to do so alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Hudson and John Legend.

Other recipients include Audrey Hepburn and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The most memorable Grammys moments of all time — in pictures

  • The Fresh Prince, aka Will Smith, left, made headlines in 1989 after refusing the first Best Rap Artist award from the Grammys, which he won with DJ Jazzy Jeff. Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives
    The Fresh Prince, aka Will Smith, left, made headlines in 1989 after refusing the first Best Rap Artist award from the Grammys, which he won with DJ Jazzy Jeff. Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives
  • Musicians Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli had to hand back their Best New Artist award after causing controversy in 1990. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
    Musicians Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli had to hand back their Best New Artist award after causing controversy in 1990. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
  • Bob Dylan performs his song Love Sick at the Grammys in 1998 as artist Michael Portnoy runs on stage with 'Soy Bomb' written on his chest
    Bob Dylan performs his song Love Sick at the Grammys in 1998 as artist Michael Portnoy runs on stage with 'Soy Bomb' written on his chest
  • Jennifer Lopez famously wears the green dress by Versace that 'broke' the internet back in 2000
    Jennifer Lopez famously wears the green dress by Versace that 'broke' the internet back in 2000
  • Lady Gaga being carried in an egg-shaped vessel on the Grammys red carpet in 2011. Reuters
    Lady Gaga being carried in an egg-shaped vessel on the Grammys red carpet in 2011. Reuters
  • Kanye West and Taylor Swift famously end a decade-long feud at the 2015 Grammys. WireImage
    Kanye West and Taylor Swift famously end a decade-long feud at the 2015 Grammys. WireImage
  • Former Recording Academy chairman Neil Portnow controversially said women need to 'step up' at the Grammys in in 2018. Getty Images via AFP
    Former Recording Academy chairman Neil Portnow controversially said women need to 'step up' at the Grammys in in 2018. Getty Images via AFP
  • The Weeknd called The Recording Academy and Grammys nominations process 'corrupt' after failing to secure a single nod in 2020. Getty Images via AFP
    The Weeknd called The Recording Academy and Grammys nominations process 'corrupt' after failing to secure a single nod in 2020. Getty Images via AFP
Updated: February 06, 2023, 1:22 PM