Congratulations are in order for Jennifer Hudson, as she is officially an EGOT after the 2022 Tony Awards on June 12. Jennifer is a producer on the play A Strange Loop, which took home the award for Best Musical at the event. Considering Jennifer already has an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar, the Tony Awards was the last left on her list of the big four. She became just the 17th person in history to reach this high level of acclaim.
This was Jennifer’s first time being nominated at the Tony Awards, although she starred in The Color Purple in 2015. The American Idol contestant earned her first of the big four awards back in 2007 when she took home Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dreamgirls. It was her first and only Oscar nomination.
In 2009, Jennifer scored her first Grammy award for Best R&B Album thanks to her record Jennifer Hudson. Her second Grammy came in 2017 for The Color Purple, which won Best Musical Theater Album. Additionally, Jennifer has six other Grammy nominations over the years, including two in 2022. Jennifer earned her Emmy Award in 2021 for producing Baba Yaga, which won Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program at the Daytime Emmy Awards.
Jennifer is just the second Black woman to achieve EGOT status, following in the footsteps of Whoopi Goldberg. Other female EGOT winners include Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno and Audrey Hepburn. Additionally, at 40 years old, Jennifer is the second youngest person to ever become an EGOT, following John Legend, who reached the honor in 2018 at the age of 39.
A Strange Loop was the most-nominated show at the 2022 Tonys, although it only took home two of its 11 nominations. In addition to Best Musical, it also won for Best Book of a Musical. Some of the night’s other biggest winners included Company, The Lehman Trilogy, MJ and Six.