On Sunday night Jennifer Hudson became the second Black woman after Whoopi Goldberg to reach EGOT status when she won a Tony for her role in A Strange Loop. The club Hudson is joining is small and elite — only 17 people have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Hudson served as a producer on A Strange Loop, which tells the story of a queer Black man writing a musical. The production received 11 nominations in total, the most of any musical, and won for Best Musical. The piece, written by Michael R. Jackson, also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020 after being an off-Broadway production in 2019.
Hudson began her journey to the EGOT when she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Dreamgirls in 2006. In 2009 she won Best R&B album at the Grammys for her self-titled album, and in 2017 won Best Musical Theater Album for The Color Purple. She won a Daytime Emmy for executive producing Baby Yaga in 2021.
In 2020 Hudson joked to People Magazine, “I got a dog and named it Oscar, and then I won my Oscar. And then I got a dog and named it Grammy, and then I won my Grammy. So I think I should get some dogs and name them Emmy and Tony — and it'll give me good luck, and I'll win. [They're] like my good luck charms.”
