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The Tony Awards 2022: Why Jennifer Hudson has just made history

Jennifer Hudson arrives at the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Barker Hangar on Feb. 27, 2022 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Jordan Strauss
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Invision/AP
Jennifer Hudson arrives at the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Barker Hangar on Feb. 27, 2022 in Santa Monica, Calif.

Updated June 13, 2022 at 1:54 AM ET

The 75th annual Tony Awards named the best of Broadway in the 2021-22 season. And it was a big night for Jennifer Hudson: At Sunday's Tonys, Hudson became just the 17th person to reach the rarified status of the entertainment industry's version of the grand slam.

A Tony Award is the final piece of the puzzle for Hudson, who reached EGOT status — winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and now, a Tony.

Hudson was a producer for A Strange Loop, which was nominated for best musical. In the words of the show's creator Michael R. Jackson, the show is "a musical about a young Black gay man named Usher who works as an usher at a Broadway show who is writing a musical about a young Black gay man named Usher who works as an usher at a Broadway show... who is caught in a self-referential loop of his own self hatred."

Hudson has won a Daytime Emmy for her role as executive producer for Baba Yaga, Grammy awards for The Color Purple and her debut self-titled studio album, and an Oscar for best supporting actress in Dreamgirls.

A full list of Tony Award winners can be seen here.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Rina Torchinsky