Viola Davis is the first black entertainer to win an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony for acting

Catherine Garcia, The Week US's avatar
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Viola Davis.
(Image credit: Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images)

With her Academy Award win for best supporting actress on Sunday night, Fences star Viola Davis became the first black performer, and the 23rd person overall, to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony for acting.

In 2015, Davis, the star of How to Get Away with Murder, won an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, and she has received two Tonys — one in 2011 for King Hedley II and one in 2010 for the Broadway performance of Fences. While Whoopi Goldberg has an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony, her Tony Award came from producing the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Huffington Post reports. Other winners of the triple crown of acting include Helen Mirren, Al Pacino, and Ingrid Bergman.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.