Tony night is always a cause for celebration, but last night’s (June 12) show was especially significant for a certain someone: Jennifer Hudson received a Tony for her production effort on A Strange Loop. With that win, the American Idol finalist became just the 17th person, the third youngest person, the second black woman, and the youngest woman to ever get an EGOT, since she has now won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Notably, the Chicago native also had one of the the shortest spans of time between her first award and last award in EGOT terms. Jennifer Hudson first won an Oscar for best supporting actress in Dreamgirls back in 2006. The “Spotlight” singer went on to win a Grammy for her self-titled R&B album in 2009, the best musical theater album Grammy for her work on The Color Purple in 2017, and an Emmy in 2021 for her executive production on the VR film Baba Yaga.
Hudson now joins the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and 11 others in the group of EGOT recipients. This year’s Tonys, the 75th annual show, also featured the very first time a transgender individual was nominated as L Morgan Lee was up for best featured actress.
