Audra McDonald has won six Tony Awards, more than any other performer, and she has a good chance to extend her record at the 2025 Tonys on Sunday (June 8). The Broadway legend is nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical for her portrayal of Mama Rose in the latest revival of Gypsy.
Angela Lansbury (1975), Tyne Daly (1990) and Patti LuPone (2008) all won in this category for their portrayals of Rose. (LuPone spoke unkindly about McDonald in a recent interview, but has since apologized. The grace McDonald exhibited in the episode may boost her chances of winning.)
McDonald’s six Tonys are split evenly between musicals and plays. She won for the musicals Carousel, Ragtime and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and for the plays Master Class, A Raisin in the Sun and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, the latter a “play with music” featuring several of Billie Holiday’s most famous songs.
McDonald’s strongest competition this year appears to be Nicole Scherzinger for playing Norma Desmond in a revival of Sunset Blvd. Glenn Close won in this category for the original production of Sunset Blvd. in 1995. The other nominees are Jasmine Amy Rogers for BOOP! The Musical, and two actresses (Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard) from Death Becomes Her.
While McDonald has won more Tonys than any other performer, she still has a ways to go to become the individual with the most Tony Awards. The late producer/director Harold Prince won 19 competitive Tonys, plus two more special awards.
McDonald’s good fortune prompted us to take a look at the top winners of other EGOT-level awards shows. In all four shows, we identify the top overall winner and also the person who won the most awards strictly in performance categories. (We count only awards won in competition, but also mention non-competitive awards.)
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Primetime Emmys
Image Credit: Monica Schipper/WireImage Most Wins: Sheila Nevins, 31
Most Wins in Performance Categories: Cloris Leachman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, RuPaul Charles, 8 each
Notes: Nevins won all of her awards as a producer for HBO in such varied categories as outstanding informational special and outstanding children’s program. One of her highest-profile wins was for outstanding variety, music or comedy special as an executive producer of Elaine Stitch at Liberty (2004). In addition, she won a non-competitive Governor’s Award in 2009.
Leachman won two Emmys each for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1974 and 1975) and Malcolm in the Middle (2002 and 2006) and one each for a movie-of-the-week, A Brand New Life (1973); a guest shot on an episode of Cher (1975); Screen Actors Guild 50th Anniversary Celebration (1984); and Promised Land (1998). In addition, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1996. Leachman died in 2021 at age 94.
Louis-Dreyfus won one Emmy each for Seinfeld (1996)and The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006) and six as the lead actress on Veep (2012-17). In addition, she won three Emmys as an executive producer of Veep (2015-17), and she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2014.
RuPaul won eight Emmys for outstanding host for a reality or competition program for RuPaul’s Drag Race (2016-23). In addition, he won six Emmys as an executive producer of that show (2018-23).
Jon Stewart has won 24 Primetime Emmys, but only six of them specified his role as host of The Daily Show (formerly The Daily Show With Jon Stewart).
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Grammys
Image Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS Most Wins: Beyoncé, 35
Most Wins in Performance Categories: Georg Solti, 31
Notes: Solti won all 31 of his Grammys in performance categories. Beyoncé’s 35 Grammys include seven in songwriting categories (including song of the year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and one as a surround producer for best surround sound album for Beyoncé. So, while Bey has won more Grammys overall than anyone else (35), she has won just 27 awards in performance categories.
Solti received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 1967. He died in 1997 at age 84.
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Oscars
Most Wins: Walt Disney, 22
Most Wins in Performance Categories: Katharine Hepburn, 4
Notes: Disney won 22 competitive Oscars, 20 of them for short subjects and two for documentary (feature). He also received three special awards – for creating Mickey Mouse (1932) and for his work on the classics Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1939) and Fantasia (1942) as well as an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (1942) Disney died in 1966 at the too-early age (especially given what he might have gone on to accomplish) age of 65.
All four of Hepburn’s awards were for best actress, for Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1968), The Lion in Winter (1969)and On Golden Pond (1982). Her win for The Lion in Winter was the result of a history-making tie with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl – still the only tie in the history of that category. Hepburn died in 2003 at age 96.
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Tonys
Most Wins: Harold Prince, 19
Most Wins in Performance Categories: Audra McDonald, 6
Notes: The Broadway producer and director won 19 competitive Tony Awards from 1955 and 1995, plus two special Tonys – one for Candide (1974) and one for lifetime achievement in the theater (2006). He won three competitive Tonys for his work on Stephen Sondheim’s Company (1971) and two each for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963), Fiddler on the Roof (1965) and Cabaret (1967). Prince died in 2019 at age 91.
McDonald’s six awards as a performer are for the musicals Carousel, Ragtime and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and the plays Master Class, A Raisin in the Sun and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.