Viola Davis has officially achieved EGOT status after winning a Grammy Award
Viola Davis has joined an incredibly exclusive club after winning a Grammy Award.
The 57-year-old was recognised for the audiobook of her memoir Finding Me, which goes into detail about her Hollywood career and the racism she has endured and witnessed during her life.
Winning a Grammy Award has now elevated the celebrated actor to the coveted EGOT status.
That means Davis has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.
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Her Emmy comes from her incredible performance on the TV show How To Get Away With Murder, her Grammy was given to her during this year's ceremony, her Academy Award was bestowed for her 2016 film Fences and she has two Tony awards for King Hedley II and Fences.
There are only 18 people who have achieved EGOT status in history.
She now joins the likes of Mel Brooks, Jennifer Hudson, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Legend, and Tim Rice in the EGOT club.
It's an incredible achievement for the 57-year-old.
Three years ago, she revealed that despite her glittering career, she hasn't been able to earn the massive paycheques of some of her Hollywood colleagues.
During a talk at the Women in the World Salon event in Los Angeles, she said: "I got the Oscar, I got the Emmy, I got the two Tonys, I’ve done Broadway, I’ve done off-Broadway, I’ve done TV, I’ve done film, I’ve done all of it.
“I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver.
"They all came out of Yale, they came out of Juilliard (which Davis attended), they came out of NYU.
"They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them.
"Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities. nowhere close to it.
"But I have to get on that phone and people say 'you’re a Black Meryl Streep. There is no one like you'. OK, then if there’s no one like me, you think I’m that, you pay me what I’m worth.”
She added: “I always mention what Shonda Rhimes said when she got the Normal Lear Award at the Producers Guild Awards about two or three years ago.
“She said, ‘I accept this award because I believe I deserve it. Because when I walk in the room I ask for what I want and I expect to get it. And that’s why I believe I deserve this award. Because Norman Lear was a pioneer, and so am I.’
"And that’s revolutionary as a woman, but it’s doubly revolutionary as a woman of color.”
The speech went viral around the world and illustrated the pay disparity that affects people in Hollywood.
Hopefully now with the EGOT status she can get any role she wants and the paycheque to go with it.
Topics: Celebrity
Stewart Perrie