Viola Davis becomes the winner of Egot at the 2023 Grammy Awards | Viola Davis

Viola Davis joined Egot’s elite group of winners with her Grammy win on Sunday.

Known as the grand slam of American entertainment, the illustrious acronym Egot stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award winner. Davis is the 18th person to achieve Egot status, joining Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Andrew Lloyd Webber and John Gielgud.

Davis won her first Grammy on Sunday for her audio recording of her memoir, Finding Me. She is the third black woman to win Egot, after Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson. Musician John Legend became the first black male Egot winner and youngest spouse at the age of 39 in 2018.

“I wrote this book to honor six-year-old Viola,” Davis said onstage at the ceremony in Los Angeles. “To honor his life, his joy, his trauma, everything. And it’s just been such a trip – I just got ego!

In the audiobook category, Davis was up against Brooks, a fellow Egot; composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is one Oscar away from achieving Egot status; and actor Jamie Foxx and musician Questlove, who have both won Oscars and Grammys.

The 57-year-old actor is a four-time Oscar nominee, making her the most nominated black actress in history. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2017 for her performance as a baseball player’s wife in Fences. She also won the Best Leading Actress Tony Award in 2010 for the same role, in the original Broadway play.

She is also a five-time Emmy nominee and won the award in 2015 for her performance on the TV show How to Get Away with Murder. Prior to her Tony win for Fences in 2010, she also won Best Featured Actress Tony for her role in the Broadway play King Hedley II in 2001.

Her memoir details the racist bullying she endured growing up in Rhode Island, and her journey as an admired actor stuck in small roles to being cast as the lead in How to Get Away With Murder, the show that made his name.