Entertainment | February 6th, 2023
“I Just EGOT!” Viola Davis is the 18th EGOT Winner
By: Jordan Forbes
Viola Davis is now EGOT status. Yes, that’s right, she’s an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner.
Winning her first Grammy at 57, Davis is now the third Black woman in history to achieve EGOT status, joining Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson.
Grammy Award
Awarded the Grammy in the Audio Book Narration and Storytelling Recording category for the narration of her own book, “Finding Me.”
Oprah’s Book Club Pick, Marie Claire’s Most Anticipated and Harper Bazar’s Best Book of 2022, “Finding Me,” is a memoir of Davis’s life. According to Davis, “Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.”
Published on April 26, 2022, according to africandream.net, “Finding Me” became a New York Times, Amazon and USA Today bestseller. The book was published by Harper One Books and Ebony Publishing and is a quick read of only 304 pages.
“This was the first one that really just surprised me,” Davis said when asked about her feelings upon hearing her nomination for the Grammy. “It felt like this was new territory for me… I wanted to challenge myself.”
Emmy Award
Viola Davis pictured with her Emmy Award in 2015. Photo Credit: The Variety
Winning her first Emmy for one of her most notable roles in 2015, Davis won the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for the character Annalise Keating in the ABC show “How To Get Away With Murder”.
Along with Zendaya, she and Davis have made history as the only two Black women to win Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy. As the first black woman to succeed in this category, Davis is paving the way for upcoming Black actors and actresses to follow in her footsteps.
Oscar Award
At the 89th Oscar Awards, Davis won Actress in a Supporting Role category in “Fences”. Officially becoming the most Oscar-nominated black woman in the Academy, Davis is no novice to making history.
Her Oscar nomination for Best Actress in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” placed her at the top in 2021, making this Davis’s fourth nomination. The film addresses racism, religion, and white producers’ longstanding exploitation of black artists.
Viola Davis wins Oscar for Best Actress in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” in 2021. Photo Credit: Forbes.com
The film, stacked with a great cast, won many awards for outstanding acting, makeup and costume design. Bringing awareness to what the Black community has known to happen to their music for ages, white artists covering their songs and branding them as their own to profit more.
Tony Award
Collecting two Tony awards in 10 years, Davis won for her performances on broadway as Tonya in the 2001 production of “King Hedley Ⅱ” and Rose in the 2010 production of “Fences”.
As the first black woman to win both Academy, Emmy, and Tony for acting, Davis never stops blazing a path for those to follow.
Viola Davis pictured with her second Tony Award for Best Performance in the Broadway production of Fences as Rose. Photo Credit: HuffPost
“I just EGOT!” Davis said as she accepted her new Grammy.
Following Jennifer Hudson, Davis is now the official 18th EGOT winner, the fourth Black person to have one, and the third Black woman to have one—this recognition is well overdue for Davis.
“I wrote this book to honor the six-year-old Viola,” Davis said. “To honor her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything. And it has just been such a journey.”
Finally receiving the recognition she deserves, and as she continues to climb the ladder of success, the world can expect more outstanding authentic performances from Davis in the future.
