Jennifer Hudson Becomes an EGOT

Jennifer Kate Hudson, known by her nickname JHud, is officially an EGOT winner. She joined the small elite EGOT club on Sunday night, June 12, 2022 during the 75th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

She was honored for her work as a co-producer on a new musical written by Michael R. Jackson. A Strange Loop won the award for best musical at the 2022 Tony Awards.

The Respect star was born on September 12, 1981. She is a singer and an actress. Back in 2004, JHud was a contestant on the third season of American Idol. She did not win the competition. She did not become the runner-up. She ended up in the seventh position. However, the talented singer went on to become successful without the support of American Idol because people in the music industry did not forget her.

EGOT: Meaning

EGOT is the acronym for four awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.

• Emmy: This award is given for excellence in the television industry.
• Grammy: This award is to those who have made outstanding achievements in music.
• Oscar: This is also known as an Academy Award. It is the oldest of the entertainment awards given to those who are outstanding in the film industry.
• Tony: The Tony Award is given to honor people who have achieved excellence in live Broadway plays.

EGOT winners do not have to receive the awards in the order they are listed in the acronym. Many celebrities have some of the awards but not all of them. For instance, Hudson had only three of them until she won the Tony award last Sunday night.

Since 1962, there are only 17 EGOTs out of thousands of actors and singers. JHud is the second Black woman EGOT. The other one is Whoopi Goldberg who became an EGOT back in 2002. Hudson is the third Black EGOT winner. She joins Whoopi Goldberg and John Legend who became an EGOT in 2018. Jennifer is the fifth woman to achieve the high honor. Other well-known EGOT winners include Mel Brooks, Alan Menken, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Audrey Hepburn, and Rita Moreno.

At 40 years old, Hudson is the third-youngest EGOT winner and the only former American Idol contestant. Robert Lopez was 39 when he became an EGOT in 2013. John Legend was also 39 years old when he became an EGOT in 2018.

Hudson's EGOT Awards

After not winning American Idol, JHud has a long time of accomplishments for not only her music but also for her acting.

• Hudson won an Oscar in 2007 for best-supporting actress as Effie White in Dreamgirls.
• The singer won her first Grammy for best R&B album for her self-titled debut in 2009. She won her second Grammy in 2017 for her best musical theater album for The Color Purple.
• Jennifer won the Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 for best interactive media as an executive producer for Baba Yaga, a virtual-reality animated film.
• What sealed the deal for Jennifer Hudson's EGOT title was because of her win for co-producing Michael R. Jackson's Best Musical A Strange Loop in 2022.

Hudson's Non-EGOT Awards

The following awards are not part of EGOT.

• Golden Globe Award
• Screen Actors Guild Award
• BAFTA (Britain’s equivalent to the USA Oscars)
• 4 NAACP Image Awards (2 were for her portrayal as Aretha Franklin in the movie musical Respect)
• Time magazine selected her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.

Interesting Facts

On September 9, 2021, Jennifer posted on Twitter a photo of herself wearing a ring bearing big gold letters E, G, and O after she won an Emmy. Now that the acronym is complete, let's see if she will add the letter T for her recent Tony Award.

Jennifer said in an interview with People magazine back in 2020:

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 are like my good luck charms."

Jennifer did get her Emmy in 2021 and her Tony in 2022.