Just like that, Cynthia Erivo is one step closer to becoming an EGOT. Erivo is nominated for two Oscars at the 2020 Academy Awards. The star of HBO’s The Outsider is up for playing Harriet Tubman in the Harriet biopic, as well as co-writing the song from the movie, “Stand Up.”
Erivo burst on the Hollywood scene in 2015 with a tour de force performance in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. She received a Tony for playing the role of Celie on stage, a Grammy for the original soundtrack to the stage musical and an Emmy (a Daytime Emmy to be exact) for a performance of the song “The Color Purple” on NBC’s Today. Erivo played the role of Celie overseas in England and came to New York when the production transferred to Broadway. A film adaptation of The Color Purple musical is in the works.
When E! News spoke to Ervio after her Golden Globe nomination, she couldn’t speak about her potential involvement in the movie version of the musical, but she did speak to her potentially reaching EGOT status and how she deals with that attention.
“I always acknowledge it because no one has to say those wonderful things, but, um, I try to not let it be a driving force because, you never know. I didn’t know I was going to be three quarters of the way there—at all—by this point, at all. So, I just try and keep doing good work, and if that’s what happens, that’s what happens. But I’m sort of like, it’s not up to me. I can’t do anything about it. All I can keep doing is putting good work out, and hopefully if it happens one day, then wonderful,” she told E! News.
Erivo has been busy since her success in The Color Purple. She’s appeared on Broad City, costarred opposite Viola Davis in Widows, starred in Bad Times at the El Royale with Chris Hemsworth and Jeff Bridges and has The Outsider on HBO with Ben Mendelsohn and Jason Bateman. Erivo is also playing Aretha Franklin in National Geographic Channel’s Genius: Aretha. The project is sanctioned by the estate of the late queen of soul.
See more people one award away from the elusive EGOT status below.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Common
Got: An Oscar for “Glory” in Selma, an Emmy for “Letter to the Free” in 13th and three Grammys for “Love of My Life (an Ode to Hip Hop),” “Southside” and “Glory”
Needs: A Tony
Steve Granitz/WireImage
Helen Mirren
Got: An Oscar for The Queen; four Emmys for Prime Suspect: The Final Act, Elizabeth I, The Passion Of Ayn Rand and Prime Suspect: Scent Of Darkness and a Tony for The Audience
Needs: A Grammy
Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock
Frances McDormand
Got: Two Oscars for Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, two Emmys for Olive Kitteridge and a Tony for Good People
Needs: A Grammy
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Ian West/PA Wire
Hugh Jackman
Got: An Emmy for hosting the 58th Annual Tony Awards, two Tonys for The Boys From Oz and a Special Tony Award and a Grammy for The Greatest Showman
Needs: An Oscar
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Christopher Plummer
Got: Two Emmys for The Moneychangers NBC World Premiere The Big Event and Madeline, two Tonys for Barrymore and Cyrano and an Oscar for Beginners
Needs: A Grammy
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Viola Davis
Got: An Oscar for Fences, two Tonys for Fences and King Hedley II and an Emmy for How to Get Away With Murder
Needs: A Grammy
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Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Ron Howard
Got: Two Oscars for A Beautiful Mind, a Grammy for The Beatles: Eight Days A Week The Touring Years film and two Emmys for Arrested Development and From Earth to the Moon. He was also one of the Television Academy’s 2013 Hall of Fame honorees.
Needs: A Tony
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Bette Midler
Got: Three Emmys for Bette Midler: Ol’ Red Hair Is Back, Bette Midler: Diva Las Vegas and her performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; three Grammys for Best New Artist, “The Rose” and “Wind Beneath My Wings”; and two Tonys Hello, Dolly! and a Special Tony Award
Needs: An Oscar
Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
Cyndi Lauper
Got: An Emmy for Mad About You, Two Grammys for Best New Artist and Kinky Boots and a Tony for Kinky Boots
Needs: An Oscar
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Nicola Buck
Dick Van Dyke
Got: Four Emmys for The Dick Van Dyke Show and Van Dyke and Company (plus a Hall of Fame honor), a Grammy for Mary Poppins and a Tony for Bye, Bye Birdie
Needs: An Oscar
Netflix
Lily Tomlin
Got: Six Emmys for Lily, Lily Tomlin, The Paul Simon Special, Lily: Sold Out and An Apology to Elephants; a Grammy for This Is A Recording; and two Tonys for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and Lifetime Achievement
Needs: An Oscar
Jonathan Elderfield/Getty Images
Vanessa Redgrave
Got: Two Emmys for Playing for Time and If These Walls Could Talk 2, Oscar for Julia and a Tony for Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Needs: A Grammy
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Netflix
Ellen Burstyn
Got: Two Emmys for Law & Order: SVU and Political Animals, Oscar for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and a Tony for Same Time, Next Year
Needs: A Grammy
Wakeham/Splash News
Maggie Smith
Got: Four Emmys for My House in Umbria and Downton Abbey, two Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite and a Tony for Lettice and Lovage
Needs: A Grammy
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Jessica Lange
Got: A Tony for Long Day’s Journey Into Night, two Oscars for Tootsie and Blue Sky and three Emmys for Grey Gardens and American Horror Story
Needs: A Grammy
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Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Kate Winslet
Got: A Grammy for Listen to the Storyteller, an Oscar for The Reader and an Emmy for Mildred Piece
Needs: A Tony
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Julie Andrews
Got: Two Grammys for Julie Andrews’s Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies and Mary Poppins (plus a Lifetime Achievement Award), an Oscar for Mary Poppins and two Emmys for The Julie Andrews Hour and Broadway: The American Musical
Needs: A Tony
Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Geoffrey Rush
Got: An Oscar for Shine, a Tony for Exit the King, an Emmy for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Needs: A Grammy
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John Shearer/Getty Images
Al Pacino
Got: Two Emmys for You Don’t Know Jack and Angels in America, two Tonys for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and an Oscar for Scent of a Woman
Needs: A Grammy
Lifetime
Jeremy Irons
Got: A Tony for The Real Thing; three Emmys for Game of Lions, Elizabeth I and The Great War and Shaping of the 20th Century; and an Oscar for Reversal of Fortune
Needs: A Grammy
Getty Images
Cher
Got: A Grammy for “Believe,” an Oscar for Moonstruck and an Emmy for Cher: The Farewell Tour
Needs: A Tony
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Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Martin Scorsese
Got: Three Emmys for Boardwalk Empire and George Harrison: Living in the Material World, a Grammy for No Direction Home an Oscar for The Departed
Needs: A Tony
John Shearer/Invision for Academy of Television Arts & Sciences/AP Images
Elton John
Got: An Oscar for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” Tony for Aida and five Grammys (as well as a Legend Award)
Needs: An Emmy
Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock
Cynthia Nixon
Got: A Grammy for An Inconvenient Truth, two Tonys for Rabbit Hole and Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes and two Emmys for Sex and the City and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Needs: An Oscar
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Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Got: An Emmy for the 67th Tony Awards, three Grammys for In the Heights, Hamilton and Moana‘s “How Far I’ll Go” and three Tonys for In the Heights and Hamilton
Needs: An Oscar
Watch E!’s red carpet coverage of the 2020 Oscars Sunday, Feb. 9 starting at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT followed by the Oscars telecast at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC!