Viola Davis achieves EGOT status with Grammy win

Viola Davis has taken home the 2023 Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording, making her the latest artist to achieve EGOT status. That is, someone who has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. 

The only female nominee in her category, Davis beat out Jamie Foxx, Mel Brooks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Questlove to win the Grammy for her memoir Finding Me. It was also her first Grammy nomination.

In previous years Davis was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for How to Get Away with Murder, an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Fences, and two Tony Awards: Best Featured Actress in a Play for King Hedley II, and Best Leading Actress in a Play for Fences.

"I wrote this book to honour the six-year-old Viola," said Davis in her brief acceptance speech. "To honour her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything. And it has just been such a journey. I just EGOT!"

Davis' achievement likely feels particularly gratifying after her film The Woman King received no Oscar nominations this year, a move many considered a clear snub. Till, another Black story with Black creatives, also missed out on nominations, with films both reigniting conversations about the Academy Awards' lack of diversity.

This Grammy makes Davis the 18th person to achieve an EGOT, following Jennifer Hudson in 2022.