Who Is The Youngest EGOT Winner In History?
Countless entertainers aspire to be an EGOT winner, but only a handful have achieved it. The term, coined by actor Philip Michael Thomas in 1984, stands for the four most prestigious awards in entertainment — the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. But while it took most of the 19 current EGOT winners decades to claim this illustrious status, one artist managed to nab all four awards in record time.
Songwriter Robert Lopez became the youngest-ever EGOT winner at the age of 39, having earned the title within the incredible span of just 10 years. His winning streak began in 2004 with a best original score Tony for the Broadway puppet musical hit "Avenue Q." This was followed by his first Daytime Emmy win in 2008 for the Nick Jr. series "Wonder Pets," where he was part of a musical team who took home the prize for outstanding music direction and composition.
In 2012, Lopez nabbed his first Grammy win for best musical theater album for "The Book of Mormon," which he wrote with "South Park" co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But the life of Lopez and his longtime songwriting partner and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez changed forever the following year, with the monumental release of "Frozen." Their hit song "Let It Go" not only dominated radio but also took award season by storm, scoring an Oscar in 2014 for best original song and completing Lopez's EGOT status. Yet this talented songsmith would soon make EGOT history once again.
Lopez is also the only double EGOT winner
As if being the youngest EGOT winner and getting all four prestigious accolades in record time wasn't enough, Robert Lopez's winning streak kept going. In 2010, Lopez earned a second outstanding music direction and composition Daytime Emmy for "Wonder Pets," while he and Kristen Anderson-Lopez later nabbed an outstanding original music and lyrics Primetime Emmy for "Agatha All Along" from "WandaVision." He was also among the winners of the outstanding short form program Children's and Family Emmy for the Netflix animated miniseries "We The People."
Two additional Tonys came for "The Book of Mormon" in 2012, with Lopez, Matt Stone, and Trey Parker earning statuettes for best book of a musical and best original score. He and his wife earned two Grammys for "Frozen" in 2015, for best compilation soundtrack for visual media and best song written for visual media for "Let It Go." Three years later, the duo took home another original song Oscar for "Remember Me" from Pixar's "Coco," which also confirmed Lopez as the only EGOT winner to have won a competitive award in each category at least twice.
Since then, the Lopezes have worked on efforts such as "Frozen II" and their own original musical, "Up Here," which was turned into a Hulu series in 2023. With more films, stage musicals, and TV projects no doubt ahead, it's perhaps only a matter of time before Robert Lopez goes for the triple EGOT crown — and Kristen Anderson-Lopez nabs her first.