This week, Jennifer Hudson secured a Tony award for her work on A Strange Loop, securing the final prize in her journey to EGOT infamy. The Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony fantastic foursome is the prize mark of a storied career in the entertainment industry, enjoyed by a rarified group of celebs who have achieved the highest level of craft.
But there’s another, less well known industry standard that we’d like to talk about here. It’s less known because, well, frankly, we just made it up — but we’re curious about it anyway. Who will be the first entertainer to go full EGOD: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Dove?
The Dove Awards, as you might know, are handed out annually by the Gospel Music Association to recognize achievements in Contemporary Christian Music. And given the level of industry crossover, the idea of anyone securing an EGOD doesn’t seem impossible. And yet, it appears to be elusive.
A little industry sleuthing, internet scrolling and Wikipedia deep diving shows that nobody has yet secured a full EGOD. But who will be the first person to actually do it? Here are some possibilities.
Jennifer Hudson
The freshly minted EGOT winner needs only a Dove Award to secure the bag and she seems on the cusp of doing so. She has a long history in Gospel music and her work on RESPECT made it clear that a play for a Dove is well within her considerable talents.
Cynthia Erivo
Erivo’s just an Oscar away from a full EGOT (she’s already been nominated once and seems very likely to have plenty more opportunities in the future — she’ll be Elphaba in Jon Chu’s upcoming Wicked adaptation). She doesn’t have a Dove yet, but is a practicing Catholic and has lent her voice to some religious numbers like an “Angels We Have Heard on High” riff with Lea Michele and a spin on The Prince of Egypt‘s “When You Believe,” in addition to starring in a stage adaptation of Sister Act in 2011.
Kanye West
Kanye’s only halfway there, but securing both a Dove and a Grammy are arguably two of the tougher awards to secure, especially for a mainstream performer. There are no immediate Oscar or Emmy opportunities in West’s future but neither seem outside the realm of possibility.
James Earl Jones
A surprisingly strong contender: Darth Vader himself. Jones technically has an EGOT, although his Oscar was a non-competitive win (who would want to compete against James Earl Jones?). And, more importantly, his infamous audio book reading of the Bible was ignored by the Doves, which certainly should have gotten some recognition from GMA. It’s not too late for them to give the man his due recognition for Excellence in Bible Reading Arts.
Tori Kelly
Plenty of artists are halfway to EGOD via the Grammy and Dove route, but Kelly is one of the few that seems like she might have some acting awards in her future. She’s already a main voice actor in the successful Sing franchise, so live action film roles don’t seem out of the question. And, if nothing else, those Sing movies seem bound to collect an Oscar for Best Original Song at some point.
