The biggest honor in entertainment isn't TV's Emmy, Broadway's Tony, music's Grammy, or even film's Oscar. It's all four together: the EGOT.
That grand combination of Hollywood's greatest performance prizes is called the EGOT, an acronym representing all four of the above awards. It's a rare and amazing feat. Arguably, it's the only actual measurement of an all-around performer. It's also referred to as "the Grand Slam" of American entertainment.
The feat is so difficult to achieve that only 16 people are on the list of EGOT winners, including Whoopi Goldberg, Mel Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, John Legend, and Rita Moreno.
About five others may also claim to be unofficial EGOT winners, because one or more of their wins were honorary awards rather than given in a competition against others.
According to Vanity Fair, "Miami Vice" actor Philip Michael Thomas coined "EGOT" and popularized it by wearing a gold medallion around his neck with the acronym emblazoned onto the medallion in the mid-'80s.
"Hopefully in the next five years, I will win all of those awards," an overconfident Thomas reportedly told an interviewer in 1984.
That's as close as Thomas would ever get to the phrase, as he hasn't won even one of the awards represented on his medallion. But thanks for naming the achievement, Philip!
He isn't alone in having EGOT ambition, of course. Currently, there are many performers who are or had been (in the case of the deceased) one award away from achieving EGOT status, including Julie Andrews, Cher, Kate Winslet, Al Pacino, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, and Lily Tomlin.
Here are all the current EGOT winners, including those who won non-competitive or special awards.
Jethro Nededog contributed to a previous version of this article.