Acting is a somewhat unpredictable career path to choose as some people struggle to make a basic living working as an actor while others go on to achieve great success. This success is usually associated with the wealth of these actors as they can earn huge sums of money for each film or television series in which they perform. This financial success allows them to live a life of luxury and enjoy a lifestyle of which most people can only dream. However, their financial gains are not the only sign that an actor has succeeded in the entertainment industry. There are many awards ceremonies each year when awards are presented to actors who have delivered an outstanding performance or made a significant contribution to the television and film industries. Some examples of these are the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs, and Emmy Awards. There are some talented performers who have also won a Grammy Award. This is relatively unusual for an actor to achieve as Grammy Awards are typically associated with the music industry. Nevertheless, there are some actors who have been given this accolade. Here are 20 actors who have also won a Grammy Award.
20. Betty White
Betty White was born in Illinois on January 17, 1922. This actress and comedian can boast she has the longest television career as a female entertainer as she began her career in 1922. Her two most famous roles are Rose Nylund in ‘The Golden Girls’ and Sue Ann Nivens on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’. In addition to her work in television series, she was also an award-winning game show host as she presented game shows including ‘Just Men!’, ‘The $25,000 Pyramid’, ‘Match Game’, and ‘Password’. Some of the movies in which she has performed include ‘Ponyo’, ‘Lake Placid’, ‘The Proposal’, and ‘Advise & Consent’. Betty White has won many awards throughout her career and retains the record for the longest span between receiving Emmy Award nominations. Although most of her awards are for her work on television, she also won a Grammy Award for the2011 audiobook ‘If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t).
19. Tia Carrere
Tia Carrere is probably best-known for her role as Cassandra Wong in ‘Wayne’s World’ and ‘Wayne’s World 2′. She is an actress, a model and a singer who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 2, 1967. Her career began in 1985 and her big break came when she got a regular role on the daytime soap opera ‘General Hospital’. Carrere has also provided the voice of Nani Pelaki in the film ‘Lilo & Stitch’, its sequels, and the television series adaptation of the film. In 1994, she won the ShoWest Award for Female Star of Tomorrow for her role in ‘Wayne’s World’. She has also won two Grammy Awards for Best Hawaiian Music Album in 2009 and 2011.
18. Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes had a career that spanned almost 80 years and she earned the title of the ‘First Lady of American Theater’. She was born in Washington D.C. on October 10, 1900. Although she began her career in the theatre, she went on to appear in many television series and films. For her role in ‘The Sin of Madelon Claudet’, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1970 movie ‘Airport’. These are just two of the many awards this talented actress won throughout her career. In fact, she is one of just 12 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. This collection of awards is referred to as an EGOT. Furthermore, she was also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1986, an award which she received from President Ronald Regan. Helen Hayes died on March 17, 1993, at the age of 92.
17. Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on December 11, 1931. She is an actress, a dancer and a singer whose career began in 1943 and she continues to work in the entertainment industry to this day, despite being in her late eighties. She is particularly well-known for her roles in ‘West Side Story’ and ‘The King and I’. She is also famous for the six years she spent on ‘The Electric Company’, a children’s television series. Moreno is one of just 12 people to have won a Grammy, a Tony Award, an Oscar, and an Emmy. In addition to these, she has also won numerous lifetime achievement awards and was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rita Moreno was married to Leonard Gordon from 1965 to 2010.
16. John Gielgud
Sir John Gielgud was an English actor and theatre director who was born on April 14, 1904 and died on May 21, 2000. During the 20th century, he was one of a trio of actors who dominated stages in Britain; the other two actors were Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Gielgud came from the Terry family theatrical dynasty. Throughout his career, Gielgud was indifferent to awards. Despite his disinterest in winning accolades, he received many in recognition of his talent. He is one of the 12 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony, and an Oscar. He was also knighted in 1953.
15. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn is one of the most famous and successful actresses from mainland Europe of all time. This actress, model, dancer, and humanitarian was born in Brussels, Belgium, on May 4, 1929. One of the movie roles for which she is best-known is ‘Roman Holiday’ and for her performance in this she won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. Other films for which she is well-known include ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, ‘Sabrina’, ‘Wait Until Dark’, and ‘A Nun’s Story’. During her career, she won three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She also won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for ‘Audrey Hepburn’s Enchanted Tales’. This was awarded posthumously in 1994 as Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer on January 20, 1993, at the age of 63.
14. Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx was born in Texas on December 13, 1967. He is an actor, a comedian, a producer, a singer, and a songwriter. The role for which he is best-known is his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film ‘Ray’. For his performance of this, he was awarded a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and an Academy Award. Other films for which he is well-known include ‘Dreamgirls’, ‘Baby Driver’, ‘Jarhead’, ‘Django Unchained’, and ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′. Between 1996 and 2001, he also had his own sitcom called ‘The Jamie Foxx Show’. In addition to his career as an actor, he has also worked as an award-winning musician who has produced four albums that have charted in the top ten. It is for the music he has produced that he has won a Grammy Award.
13. Sam Kinison
Sam Kinison was a stand-up comedian and actor who was born in Washington on December 8, 1953. He became well-known for his politically incorrect and black humor and his harsh-style of performances. During his career, he had roles in four films; ‘Savage Dawn’, ‘Back to School’, ‘Three Amigos!’, and ‘Pauly Shore Is Dead’. He also appeared on several television series. At the age of just 38, Sam Kinison was tragically killed in a car collision when he was hit head-on by a car driven by a 17-year-old under the influence of alcohol. He died on April 10, 1992. Posthumously, he was awarded a Grammy Award for the Best Comedy Album in 1995.
12. Mel Brooks
Melvin Kaminsky, known professionally as Mel Brooks, is an actor, director, producer, writer, and composer. He was born in New York on June 28, 1926. His career began in 1949 and he is well-known for ‘The 2000 Year Old Man’, his comedy skit with Carl Reiner, and as a comic and writer of ‘Your Show of Shows’. The films for which he is best-known include ‘The Producers’, ‘Blazing Saddles’, ‘Young Frankenstein’, ‘The Twelve Chairs’, ‘Silent Movie’, and ‘Robin Hood: Men in Tights’. He has many 27 throughout his career, including an Oscar, four Emmy awards, and three Grammys. He finally made it onto the elite list of EGOT winners in 2001 when he won a Tony Award for ‘The producers’. His list of awards includes three Grammy Awards, of which he received one 1999 and two in 2002.
11. Mike Nichols
Mikhail Igor Peschkowsy is better known as his stage name Mike Nichols. He was born in Berlin, Germany, on November 6, 1931, and was an actor, director, and comedian. His career began in the 1950s when he worked in a comedy troupe called ‘The Compass Players’. He then worked predominantly in theatre and won a Tony Award for directing a stage play called ‘The Odd Couple’. He won his sixth Tony Award in 2012 for directing ‘Death of a Salesman’. The first film he directed was ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It won five of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated. In addition to being an Academy Award winner, Nichols also won nine Tony Awards and four Emmy Awards. Furthermore, he won a Grammy Award and was the first comedian born outside the United States to achieve this accolade. Mike Nichols died of a heart attack on November 19, 2014, at the age of 2014.
10. Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg was born as Caryn Elaine Johnson on November 13, 1955, in Manhattan, New York. She is one of the most successful black actresses of all-time and was only the second black actress in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Oscar in recognition of her talent. She has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and is one of only twelve actors to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony Award, and an Emmy. Whoopi Goldberg is one of just 12 actors who have been awarded the EGOT. Some of the films for which she is best-known are ‘The Color Purple’, Sister Act’, ‘Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit’, ‘Ghost’, ‘Made in America’, and ‘For Colored Girls’. This highly acclaimed actress has become well-known for her ability to adapt her acting style to roles in different genres of movies, from comedy to drama. Her Grammy Award was for the Best Comedy Recording for ‘Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway’ in 1985.
9. Robert Guillaume
Robert Guillaume was born in St. Louis, Missouri on November 30, 1927. His career began in 1959 and he did not retire from the entertainment industry until 2014. He is best-known for playing Isaac Jaffe on ‘Sports Night’ and Benson in the spin-off series ‘Benson’. In a career that spanned 55 years, he was nominated for many awards. He won two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Benson and a Tony Award for his role in ‘Guys and Dolls’. Despite never working in the music industry, Guillaume also won a Grammy Award in 1995. This was for his spoken word performance for the audiobook version of ‘The Lion King’. Sadly, Robert Guillaume died in Los Angeles on October 24, 2017, at the age of 89.
8. Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix is an actor, producer, musician, activist, and music video director. He was born on October 28, 1974, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is part of the Phoenix family of entertainers, which includes his siblings Rain, Liberty, Summer, and the late River Phoenix. The films for which he is best-known include ‘Parenthood’, ‘Gladiator’, ‘Quills’, ‘Walk the Line’, and ‘The Maser’. He has also had roles in ‘Two Lovers’, ‘Signs’, ‘The Immigrant’, ‘Hotel Rwanda’, and ‘Buffalo Soldiers’. Joaquin Phoenix has won multiple awards in his career, including three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA. Phoenix had collaborated with T. Bone Burnett and Mike Piersante on the soundtrack for ‘Walk the Line’. It was for his work on this that he shared a Grammy Award with his collaborators for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2007.
7. Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand has enjoyed a career in the entertainment industry that has spanned six decades. She was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, and began her career in 1961. She is an actress, a singer, a songwriter, and a filmmaker. As an actress, she is best-known for her roles in ‘Funny Girls’, ‘An Owl and a Pussycat’, ‘The Way We Were’, ‘Meet the Fockers’, and ‘A Star is Born’. Streisand has succeeded in many areas of the entertainment industry and has sold over 68.5 million records worldwide. The fact that she has succeeded in both the film and music industry is reflected in the awards she has received. She is one of only a handful of entertainers who have received a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony, and an Emmy. She won two Grammy Awards in 1963, one in 1964, one in 1965, and a final Grammy in 1968.
6. James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is considered one of the most versatile and distinguished actors to come from the United States. He was born in Mississippi on January 17, 1931, and he began his career in entertainment in 1953. He began his career in theatre and made his Broadway debut in 1957. Jones became particularly known for his distinctive voice, which was described as gravelly. His voice has been an important part of his career as he has provided voices for many famous film characters, such as Darth Vadar in the ‘Star Wars’ films and Musafa in ‘The Lion King’. The films in which he has appeared include ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’, ‘The Great White Hope’, ‘Conan the Barbarian’, and ‘Field of Dreams’. He won multiple awards throughout his career. For his role in ‘The Great White Hope’, he won a Tony Award in 1969 and a Golden Globe in 1970. In 1977, He won a Grammy Award for the Best Spoken Word Album for ‘Great American Documents’. He has won Primetime Emmy Awards for his roles in both ‘Heat Wave’ and ‘Gabriel’s Fire’ and a Tony Award for ‘Fences’. In 199, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for ‘Summer’s End’. He has also won a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and an Academy Honorary Award in 2011.
5. Frank Sinatra
When people think of Frank Sinatra, it is usually his music that springs to mind first. However, this talented man was also a successful artist. He was born in New Jersey on December 12, 1915. He was one of the most successful musical artists of all-time and sold more than 150 million records worldwide. While he is most typically associated with his musical career, he appeared in numerous films between 1941 and 1988. Some of his best-known films include ‘Can-Can’, ‘Dirty Dingus McGee’, ‘Dirty Harry’, ‘High Society’, ‘Sergeants 3′, ‘4 for Texas’, ‘Anchors Aweigh’, and ‘On the Town’. In addition to the multiple awards he won for his acting career, Sinatra also won eleven Grammy Awards. These included a Grammy Legend Award, a Grammy Trustees Award, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
4. Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte is an actor, singer, songwriter, and social activist. His career as an entertainer began as a musician and he is possibly best-known for singing ‘The Banana Boat Song’ which earned him the title of ‘The King of Calypso’. He was one of the most successful Jamaican-American pop stars of all-time but has recorded songs in many genres of music, including gospel, show tunes, blues, folk, and American standards. In terms of his acting career, he has starred in several films, including ‘Odds Against Tomorrow’, ‘Island in the Sun’, and ‘Carmen Jones’. During his career, he won an Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and three Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989 and the National Medal of Arts in 1994.
3. Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones is a record producer, an actor, a television producer, a composer, a conductor, a musician, and an arranger. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 14, 1933. He first rose to prominence within the music industry in the 1950s. His acting career did not begin until much later when he had a singing part in the 1999 film ‘Fantasia 2000′. He also played himself in ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember’ in 2002 and again in ‘Sandy Wexler’ in 2017. Quincy Jones won many awards throughout his career. Altogether, he has been nominated for a staggering 79 Grammy Awards, of which he has won 28. These have included a Grammy Legend Award in 1991.
2. Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren is an Italian actress and singer who successfully established careers in both the film and the music industries. She was born in Rome on September 20, 1934. Her career began in the early 1950s when she had a few small roles in film and television. By the mid-50s she was getting bigger roles in major movies. These included ‘The Pride and the Passion’, ‘It Started in Naples’, and ‘Houseboat’. Other notable performances include ‘Two Women’, ‘Marriage Italian Style’, ‘Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow’, and ‘Sunflower’. During her career, she has won five Golden Globes, an Academy Award, a Grammy, the Volci Cup, and an Honorary Academy Award. She has also received many lifetime achievement awards. She married Carlo Ponti Sr. in 1957 but their marriage was annulled in 1962 when it was discovered he was not legally divorced from his first wife. They remarried in 1966 and remained married until he died in 2007. They had two sons together; Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo.
1. Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli is a famous actress and singer who was born in Hollywood on March 12, 1946. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli. She began her career as a musical theatre actress in 196q after moving to New York. However, she had already had roles as a child actress. She rose to prominence when she played the lead role of Sally Bowles in the 1972 musical film ‘Cabaret’, which was directed by Bob Fosse. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in this movie. Other film roles for which she is well-known include ‘Stepping Out’, ‘Rent-a-Cop’, ‘Lucky Lady’, and New York, New York’. In 1990, she was one of the first people to be awarded with a Grammy Legend Award along with Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Willie Nelson, and Smokey Robinson. At the awards ceremony, she performed ‘Losing My Mind’.
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