Viola Davis joins EGOT club with first Grammy win: ‘It has been such a journey’
Viola Davis #ViolaDavis
Viola Davis is officially a quadruple-threat: an Emmy, Oscar, Tony and now Grammy winner.
The “Woman King” star made history at the 65th annual Grammy Awards Sunday with her win for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording, which she won for her memoir “Finding Me.”
“I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola, to honor her life, her joy, her trauma,” Davis said following her win. “It has been such a journey. I JUST EGOT!”
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Davis now joins other decorated stars such as Jennifer Hudson, Rita Moreno, John Legend and Whoopi Goldberg in the EGOT club.
Davis’ victory at the Grammys follows her recent career triumph with “The Woman King,” a historical epic inspired by the true story of an all-female African army. Despite her involvement as both star and producer, Davis said the film’s production was a struggle for artistic survival.
“When you get a film and the players are players that have never been seen before – and in a genre like this – it’s a fight” to get made,” Davis told USA TODAY in September. “A day-to-day fight. Literally, I was Nanisca.”
Davis was pitched the idea for the film in 2015 by Maria Bello, one of the movie’s producers, in a speech she made presenting Davis with an award at the National Women’s History Museum in Los Angeles. The process from that moment to the final version viewers saw “looks like something that does not make this business attractive,” Davis said.
“Everything in between is not pretty. It really isn’t,” Davis said. “You literally have to have the spirit of an artistic warrior when you are fighting for material.”
Grammys 2023 live: Viola Davis garners EGOT status with win, Beyoncé takes two awards
‘The Woman King’: A real-life epic, embodies the fight in Viola Davis and her fellow stars
Contributing: Brian Truitt and Anika Reed, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viola Davis joins EGOT club with first Grammy win: ‘It has been such a journey’