Being an EGOT-winning star is a coveted feat in Hollywood and a rarity within Black Hollywood. Currently, there are only five Black entertainers who make up the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) winners—two of which received their awards competitively while the other three artists received honorary notoriety for their storied achievements across music and entertainment.
Whoopi Goldberg became the first Black female EGOT recipient in 2002 when she received her Tony Award for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie and her Daytime Emmy for Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel. Goldberg won her Grammy in 1985 for Best Comedy Recording with Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway and received her Oscar in 1991 for Best Supporting Actress as psychic Oda Mae Brown in Ghost.
John Legend became the youngest and first Black male to reach EGOT status in 2018 when he won an Emmy for serving as executive producer on NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live. He earned his Tony in the year prior for Best Revival of a Play after co-producing August Wilson’s Jitney, took home an Oscar in 2015 for Best Original Song with “Glory” from Selma, and is now a twelve-time Grammy winner.
Though Quincy Jones became the first Black person to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy in 1995, he didn’t achieve EGOT status until 2016 when he was awarded a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical with the Broadway production of The Color Purple. Harry Belafonte preceded him in 2014, when he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award while James Earl Jones received his honorary Oscar in 2011.
Tragically, there are three legends who passed on prior to having obtained all four awards, but that doesn’t make their careers any less phenomenal or noteworthy.
Here are 21 Black entertainers who are just shy of joining the ranks of fellow EGOT recipients.