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Hollywood Insider – Beyond the Spotlight: What Earning an EGOT Really Says About a Star
From Audrey Hepburn to Elton John, these icons have claimed the ultimate showbiz honor — but an EGOT is more than just a trophy shelf flex.
The Most Exclusive Club in Entertainment
Winning an EGOT — the acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — represents one of the rarest and most prestigious accomplishments in the world of entertainment.
With fewer than 25 stars in history having pulled it off through competitive wins, joining this club is more than collecting awards — it signals an artist’s ability to transcend mediums, reinvent themselves, and remain relevant across decades (explaining Audrey Hepburn’s spot in victory).
The latest artists to join the EGOT club are Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
They secured their Emmy in September 2024 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ completing their EGOT just seven years and seven months after their first major award.
This makes them the fastest duo to ever accomplish this milestone.
Elton John also entered the EGOT club in 2024, taking home an Emmy for his ‘Farewell From Dodger Stadium’ concert film.
The moment was powerful: an openly gay music icon who’s long dominated the Grammys and Oscars, now crowned with the television world’s top honor.
But his win also reminds us that the EGOT is about evolution — an artist’s ability to grow, stretch, and thrive in multiple forms of storytelling.
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The Long Road — or Lightning Fast
While many artists spend decades inching toward this honor, others achieve it in record time.
Composer Robert Lopez was the fastest person to reach EGOT status, doing so by age 39 and eventually doubling his achievement — earning all four awards twice.
Now, with Pasek and Paul setting a new record and rising to the top, there’s a high bar for others to surpass.
However, Robert Lopez remains the youngest person ever to achieve an EGOT.
He’s the only person to have completed a double EGOT, thanks to his work on ‘Frozen‘, ‘The Book of Mormon’, and ‘Avenue Q’.
Audrey Hepburn’s EGOT, by contrast, unfolded across a lifetime and even beyond it.
She received her final honor, a Grammy for ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales’, posthumously in 1994.
Then there are the artists like Viola Davis, whose 2023 Grammy win for her audiobook recording of ‘Finding Me’ secured her place in the EGOT pantheon.
Davis became the third Black woman to achieve the honor (following Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson), proving depth and emotional truth in performance on stage, screen, and page.
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Unexpected Wins, Quiet Flexes
Many EGOTs don’t come from the flashy wins you’d expect. John Legend’s Emmy wasn’t for a Netflix special or talk show appearance — it was for producing ‘Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert’.
Rita Moreno’s Emmy wins came from guest appearances and variety shows. These aren’t always household moments, but they reflect the quiet work that sustains careers and shapes culture.
Composer Alan Menken — known for scoring Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Aladdin’, and ‘The Little Mermaid’ — finally completed his EGOT in 2020 with a Daytime Emmy win for a song from ‘Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure’.
His years of writing unforgettable music had already secured him Oscars, Tonys, and Grammys, but the Emmy confirmed what fans knew all along: Menken’s work had long transcended any one category.
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Viola Davis: The Power of Presence
What makes Viola Davis’s EGOT particularly remarkable is that her wins span such different areas — a Tony for ‘Fences’, an Oscar for the film adaptation of that same role, an Emmy for ‘How to Get Away with Murder’, and a Grammy for her audiobook memoir.
Throwing an audio book in there is something that really stood out.
Her talent as an actress, orator, and truth-teller is undeniable.
In her Grammy acceptance speech, Davis said: “I wrote this book to honor the six-year-old Viola… to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, everything.”
EGOTs don’t just come from versatility — they come from voice, and few have a clearer one than Davis.
In other words, it’s not just what you do, but how you do it.
The Ones to Watch Out for
The question on everyone’s mind now: Who will be the next to join the elite EGOT club?
All eyes are on Cynthia Erivo (hoping to hold space). The star of the ‘Wicked’ film and the powerhouse behind ‘The Color Purple’ already holds a Tony, Grammy, and Emmy.
Many were hopeful she’d secure her Oscar this year for her portrayal of Elphaba, which would have made her the youngest EGOT winner and another Black woman to earn the honor.
With ‘Wicked: Part Two – For Good’ set to hit theaters November 1, 2025, she could still be in the running for the 2026 Oscars—and a shot at making EGOT history.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is another frontrunner. Though he’s missing only an Oscar, he’s come close with nominations for ‘Encanto‘, ‘Moana‘, and ‘Tick, Tick… Boom!’.
His creative DNA runs through Broadway, film, and music — it’s not a question of “if,” but more so “when” at this point.
What the EGOT Really Says
So what does earning an EGOT really say about a performer?
It’s not even about the fame. It’s not about having one perfect role. It’s about range, durability, and reinvention.
It says you can shift gears from stage to screen, from voice to verse, from intimate memoirs to animated musicals.
Think of some of the biggest names in entertainment—Audrey Hepburn, John Legend, and Elton John—all part of the exclusive EGOT club.
EGOTs are not won in a year — or even five or six — they are earned across a lifetime.
The honor reflects an ability to resonate across generations, and to connect with audiences in different ways. And most importantly, it shows that an artist never stops evolving.
And hopefully we’ll watch Erivo and Lin-Manuel make their way to the top they truly deserve.
By Emma Gladstone
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Author
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Emma Gladstone is an entertainment journalist dedicated to offering a fresh perspective in today’s media landscape. As a content writer for The Hollywood Insider, her goal is to serve as a break from negativity by focusing on positive, human-centered angles that uplift and inspire. Writing reviews and feature stories for The Hollywood Insider, Emma celebrates the transformative and authentic power of reporting, to promote meaningful change and substance in media. Her passion for global entertainment fuels her writing, creating stories that educate, empower, and resonate deeply with readers. Emma is truly thrilled to be writing for The Hollywood Insider, as their values align closely with hers.
Emma Gladstone is an entertainment journalist dedicated to offering a fresh perspective in today’s media landscape. As a content writer for The Hollywood Insider, her goal is to serve as a break from negativity by focusing on positive, human-centered angles that uplift and inspire. Writing reviews and feature stories for The Hollywood Insider, Emma celebrates the transformative and authentic power of reporting, to promote meaningful change and substance in media. Her passion for global entertainment fuels her writing, creating stories that educate, empower, and resonate deeply with readers. Emma is truly thrilled to be writing for The Hollywood Insider, as their values align closely with hers.
