Matt Petit - Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images Oscars statuettes are on display backstage during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards.
One Star Trek actor is that rarest of performers: an EGOT winner. They have won not just an Emmy, but also a Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony award. This means they have excelled in TV, the recording arts, the film industry, and in the highest echelon of the theater world. Curious about which Star Trek actor has all four awards on their shelf at home? Read on to see which actor is arguably the most broadly awarded performer in Star Trek history.
Whoopi Goldberg Is the Only ‘Star Trek’ Alum With EGOT Status (So Far)
Not only is Whoopi Goldberg the only EGOT-winning actor to appear on any Star Trek show, she is also the first black woman to hold the EGOT honor. Goldberg earned the “T” in her EGOT back in 2002, when she took home a Tony for her role as a producer for the Broadway hit Thoroughly Modern Millie.
While there are many other talented actors, singers, and comedians to grace the set of Star Trek over the years, no other EGOT-level performer has ever visited the Trek universe. Other EGOT winners include Rita Moreno and Audrey Hepburn.
Goldberg Played Guinan on ‘Star Trek: TNG’
Watch Q and Guinan interact in a clip from Q Who.
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in 1955. Goldberg is well-known for her comedy and her daytime talk show work, but she is best known to Star Trek superfans as Guinan. Her character originated on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was eventually featured (in uncredited appearances) in both Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: Nemesis. Goldberg appeared on five of the seven seasons of Star Trek: TNG.
Guinan was a bartender at Ten Forward, the lounge on the Enterprise-D. As the series went on, it was revealed that Guinan was someone with a mysterious past, but little else was revealed about her origins. What is known is that Guinan and the character Q, played by John de Lancie, had a past that pre-dated the events of the show.
In the TNG episode Q Who, the character of Q tells Picard that Guinan is dangerous.
“This creature is not what she appears to be,” Q explains in the episode. “She’s an Imp, and where she goes, trouble always follows.”
Which Performances Scored Goldberg Her EGOT Status?
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E! notes that Goldberg has won multiple awards for performances that count towards EGOT status.
In addition to the aforementioned Tony for work as a producer, Goldberg also holds an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Ghost, as well as a Grammy for her comedy album Whoopi Goldberg: Original Broadway Show Recording. Whoopi also holds two Emmy awards, though only one is needed to secure the “E” in EGOT. Both are Daytime Emmy Awards. One is for her work on the View, with another given to her for Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel.
Performers With Near-EGOT Status
FREDERICK M. BROWN/AFP/Getty ImagesUS actor James Brolin and singer and actress Barbra Streisand pose for the media during the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony for James Brolin.
It can be hard to get the respect owed to an EGOT, even if you eventually collect all the awards required. EW indicates, in their roundup of EGOT winners, that one school of thought says you’re only a “real” EGOT winner if all four awards are given in competitive categories. In other words, special awards (like lifetime achievement awards or “Legends” awards) should not count towards EGOT status, which means that by EW’s reckoning, some pretty big stars that seem like EGOT winners actually are not:
“We have to recognize the stars who sort of have the EGOT, having won three competitive awards and almost checked off the fourth box with a non-competitive trophy,” EW clarifies in their analysis of EGOT winners. “They are: Harry Belafonte and Quincy Jones, both of whom have won the film Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; James Earl Jones, who has the Academy Honorary Award; Liza Minnelli, who has the Grammy Legend Award; and Barbra Streisand, who has the Special Tony Award.”
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