Just So You Never Forget, The Only Two-Time EGOT Winner in the World Is a Filipino-American
For performers, there’s only one thing better than an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, or Tony—and that’s having all of them. EGOT is the title we give to the prestigious artists who manage to bag all four awards, and it’s perhaps the biggest title an artist can earn. There are only a handful of living EGOT winners in our day and age, like Viola Davis and John Legend, but there’s only one person who’s ever become a two-time EGOT winner. Because the only better than winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, or Tony…is winning two. Or each.
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Just so no one ever forgets, the only two-time EGOT winner in the world is a Filipino-American. Songwriter Robert Lopez was only 39 years old when he became an EGOT and broke every record in entertainment. When he became an EGOT for the first time in 2013, Lopez was the youngest and only Asian-American to ever accomplish such a feat. He also won all four awards the fastest within a time span of only 10 years. Then he had to outdo himself by becoming the only person to achieve a double EGOT, cementing his legacy in entertainment.
Born in New York City into a Filipino-American family, Lopez’ grandfather migrated to the U.S. from Manila and it was aboard a ship that his son, Lopez’ father, was born. It sounds a bit like the start of a Disney movie, which explains the path his life took. After graduating from Yale University, the songwriter got his start writing songs at small theaters and earned his big break when he won his first Tony for Best Original Score for his musical comedy Avenue Q in 2004.
That marked the start of Lopez’ EGOT journey. In his TV work, Lopez won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for Wonder Pets! in 2008 and again in 2010. Just one year later, Lopez returned to Broadway where he won two Tonys (Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score) for The Book of Mormon. The musical would later win him his first Grammy in 2012 for Best Musical Theater Album.
Then Frozen dropped and became a worldwide phenomenon, changing the lives of kids around the globe—as well as Lopez’s. In 2013, Lopez already had two Emmys, three Tonys, and one Grammy in the bag. Frozen sealed his EGOT fate when “Let It Go” earned him and his wife and collaborator Kristen Anderson-Lopez an Oscar for Best Original Song.
A few years later, Frozen won two Grammys in 2015 for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Song Written for Visual Media. After Frozen, the Lopezes were instrumental in the success of Coco in 2017, which won them an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Remember Me.” With a second Oscar secured, Lopez became a double EGOT in 2017.
But wait—there’s more. Lopez and his wife went on to work on the music of Disney+’s WandaVision, which earned them a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song “Agatha All Along.” And most recently, they won another Emmy in 2022 for Outstanding Short Form Program for We the People.
By our count, that’s two Oscars, four Emmys, three Grammys, and three Tonys. If Lopez writes another Oscar-winning song, then that would make him a Triple EGOT.
Robert Lopez is a living legend, and the fact that he’s Filipino-American does something to our Pinoy Pride. Heritage aside, he’s a genius who deserves all the praise for being one of the greatest songwriters of our time.
