Viola Davis earns EGOT with Grammy win: “It’s just been such a journey”
The actress received the hard-to-achieve rank after taking home the music award for the best audiobook for her memoir, ‘Finding Me.’
Viola Davis achieved EGOT status after winning the best audiobook, narration, and storytelling recording award for her memoir, Finding Me, at the 2023 Grammys.
“I wrote this book to honor Viola, who is six years old. To honor her life, joy, trauma, and everything else. And it’s been quite a journey. “I just EGOT!” she exclaimed as she accepted the award, as the audience applauded.
Davis continued to express gratitude to “everyone who was a part of [her] story and the best chapter yet.”
She thanked her husband Julius Tennon and daughter Genesis in particular, calling them “my life, you’re my joy, the best chapter in my book.”
In the Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event, the actress previously stated that her decision to write her book, which was released in April, was “exacerbated” by the COVID-19 pandemic but was rooted in her “hitting the top” in Hollywood. “The only thing I could think of doing was going back to the beginning of my story,” she explained, “because I think that once you tell your story over and over again, you start to hear it, and you start to think, ‘OK, how did I get here?'”
The Help actress first rose to prominence in 2001, when she won her first Tony Award for best-featured actress in a play for her performance in King Hedley II. She later brought home a second Tony for best lead actress in a play in the 2010 production of Fences.
Davis, who has gotten four Academy Award nominations, finally won her first Oscar in 2017 for best performance in the film adaptation of Fences.
Davis is also a five-time Emmy nominee, four of which she received for her portrayal of Annalise Keating in How to Get Away With Murder. Then, in 2015, she won the award for best lead actress in a drama series for her starring role in Peter Nowalk’s series.
Only 17 other people have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, completing the EGOT feat.
Jennifer Hudson congratulated Davis on Twitter, writing, “Hold the line!!!!!!! Viola Davis has just been named EGOT #18!!! @violadavis omg. You are completely everything! Congratulations on becoming a living LEGEND. “It’s time to celebrate!!!”
On Sunday, Trevor Noah hosted the 65th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Davis was one of the ceremony’s presenters.