Triple Crown of Acting: 24 Remarkable Individuals
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The triple crown of acting is what the industry refers to as an Oscar, Emmy and Tony being awarded in an acting category. This is indeed an elite club, as only 24 actors have achieved this feat. The majority of the triple crown of acting winners have received multiple Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards.
Triple Crown of Acting Breakdown
Gender
Female: 15, Male: 9
Nationality
American: 13, English: 6, American-English: 1, Canadian: 1, Australian: 1, Puerto Rican: 1, and Swedish: 1.
The actors are listed below in order of most awarded. Their collective awards span 88 years from 1932 to 2020.
Maggie Smith
(1934 –)
OSCAR
1969
1978
EMMY
2003
2011
2012
2016
TONY
1990
TOTAL
7
British actor Maggie Smith is the most awarded actor of the triple crown winning a Tony for her interpretation of Lettice Douffet in the Broadway production of Peter Shaffer’s comedy Lettice and Lovage. She also won four Emmys, including three for her portrayal of Violet Crawley in the period television series Downton Abbey. Earlier in her career, Smith was also awarded two Oscars.
Ingrid Bergman
(1915–1982)
OSCAR
1944
1957
1974
EMMY
1960
1982
TONY
1947
TOTAL
6
Throughout her career on stage and screen, Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman was awarded three Oscars, two Emmys and a Tony. Her Academy Award-winning film performances included Gaslight, Anastasia and Murder on the Orient Express.
Shirley Booth
(1898–1992)
OSCAR
1952
EMMY
1962
1963
TONY
1949
1950
1953
TOTAL
6
Shirley Booth was awarded two Emmy’s for her primetime acting in the 1960s television sitcom Hazel and a Tony and Oscar for acting in the play and movie adaptation of Come Back, Little Sheba. She is one of only two recipients on the list to win three Tonys.
Helen Mirren
(1945–)
OSCAR
2006
EMMY
1996
1999
2006
2007
TONY
2015
TOTAL
6
Helen Mirren’s award highlights include acting portrayals of the British monarch Queen Elizabeth I in the television show Elizabeth I and then Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 movie The Queen. She is one of only two triple crown recipients to have been awarded four Emmys (the other being Maggie Smith).
Jessica Lange
(1949–)
OSCAR
1982
1984
EMMY
2009
2012
2014
TONY
2016
TOTAL
6
Jessica Lange’s triple crown of acting awards include a Tony for her portrayal of Mary Tyrone in the 2015 Broadway revival of Eugene O’Neill’s play Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the 1982 movie Tootsie, and more recently three Emmys in various seasons of the television series American Horror Story.
Glenda Jackson
(1936–)
OSCAR
1970
1973
EMMY
1972
1972
2020
TONY
2018
TOTAL
6
Between 1970 and 1973 Jackson was awarded two Oscars for A Touch of Class and Women in Love and two Emmys for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the television serial Elizabeth R. In 2018 she was awarded a Tony for acting in Edward Albee’s play Three Tall Women.
Helen Hayes
(1900–1993)
OSCAR
1932
1970
EMMY
1953
TONY
1947
1958
TOTAL
5
The first to achieve the triple crown of acting, Helen Hayes accomplished this feat way back in 1953. She won two Oscars nearly forty years apart, the second being for her portrayal of an elderly stowaway in the popular 1970 disaster movie, Airport. Hayes’ Tony award in 1947 was for her work in the play Happy Birthday, a drama specifically written for her.
Jessica Tandy
(1909–1994)
OSCAR
1989
EMMY
1988
TONY
1947
1978
1983
TOTAL
5
Jessica Tandy is one of only two performers on the triple crown of acting list to have won three Tony awards (the other being Shirley Booth). In 1947 she was awarded her first Tony for acting alongside 24-year old Marlon Brando in the premiere of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire, a play that would become a classic of 20th century American theatre. More recently Tandy won an Oscar for her role in the film Driving Miss Daisy.
Al Pacino
(1940–)
OSCAR
1992
EMMY
2004
2011
TONY
1969
1977
TOTAL
5
Although Al Pacino has been awarded only one Oscar, he has been nominated nine times throughout his acting career. He won the 1992 Oscar for Best Actor in the movie Scent of a Woman and a 2004 Emmy for his role in Angels in America, an HBO miniseries based on Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning play of the same name.
Christopher Plumber
(1929–2021)
OSCAR
2011
EMMY
1977
1994
TONY
1974
1997
TOTAL
5
A true star of stage and screen, Canadian actor Christopher Plumber was nominated for seven Tonys, seven Emmys and three Oscars in a career spanning seven decades. He achieved the triple crown of acting in 2011 for his role in the movie Beginners.
Frances McDormand
(1957–)
OSCAR
1996
2017
2020
EMMY
2015
TONY
2011
TOTAL
5
Frances McDormand is one of only two triple crown of acting recipients to have been awarded three Oscars (the other being Ingrid Bergman), all for Best Actress (Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and more recently Nomadland).
Melvyn Douglas
(1901–1981)
OSCAR
1963
1979
EMMY
1968
TONY
1960
TOTAL
4
A well-known face of both stage and screen, American actor Melvyn Douglas won most of his awards in the 1960s. He was the recipient of a Tony for Best Actor in a Play for The Best Man and two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in Hud (1963) and Being There (1979).
Jack Albertson
(1907–1981)
OSCAR
1968
EMMY
1975
1976
TONY
1965
TOTAL
4
Jack (Harold) Albertson was awarded a Tony for his portrayal of John Cleary in the play The Subject Was Roses and an Oscar for the same performance on film a few years later. Perhaps best known for his role as Grandpa Joe in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Albertson was also awarded one of his two Emmys for his role in the 1970s television sitcom Chico and the Man.
Rita Moreno
(1931–)
OSCAR
1961
EMMY
1977
1978
TONY
1975
TOTAL
4
Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno won her only Oscar portraying the role of Anita in the original West Side Story movie in 1961, a Tony for her role in The Ritz (1975) and one of two Emmys in the 1978 television detective drama The Rockford Files.
Maureen Stapleton
(1925–2006)
OSCAR
1981
EMMY
1967
TONY
1951
1971
TOTAL
4
Maureen Stapleton is a seven-time Emmy nominee, winning one in 1967 for her work in Among The Paths to Eden. She was also a six-time Tony nominee (winning two) and a four-time Oscar nominee (winning one).
Jason Robards Jr.
(1922–2000)
OSCAR
1976
1977
EMMY
1988
TONY
1959
TOTAL
4
Jason Robards Jr. was nominated for eight Tony Awards throughout his career, wining one in 1959 for Best Actor in The Disenchanted, a play in which he performed alongside his father Jason Robards Sr. He was awarded Best Supporting Actor Oscars in successive years for All the President’s Men (1976) and Julia (1977) with Vanessa Redgrave who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the same film.
Jeremy Irons
(1948–)
OSCAR
1990
EMMY
1997
2006
TONY
1984
TOTAL
4
Jeremy Irons was awarded an Emmy for his portrayal of the Earl of Leicester alongside Helen Mirren in the 2005 television miniseries Elizabeth I, an Oscar for his role in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune and a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing.
Anne Bancroft
(1931–2005)
OSCAR
1962
EMMY
1999
TONY
1958
1960
TOTAL
4
Anne Bancroft’s acting awards span more than forty years. Highlights include a Tony Award in 1958 for her role as Anne Sullivan, the blind tutor to Hellen Keller in the play The Miracle Worker, plus an Oscar for the same role in the film adaptation a few years later.
Vanessa Redgrave
(1937–)
OSCAR
1977
EMMY
1981
2000
TONY
2003
TOTAL
4
English actress Vanessa Redgrave is a six-time Oscar, six-time Emmy and three-time Tony nominee. Redgrave’s Oscar was awarded in 1979 for her acting in the holocaust drama Julia. She was also awarded a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Mary Tyrone in the 2003 Broadway revival of Eugene O’Neill’s classic Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Ellen Burstyn
(1932–)
OSCAR
1974
EMMY
2009
2013
TONY
1975
TOTAL
4
A member of Lee Strasberg’s The Actor’s Studio in New York in the late 1960s, Ellen Burstyn was awarded a Tony in 1975 for Best Actress in a Play for her work in the romantic comedy Same Time, Next Year. She also won two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Oscar for her work in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
Viola Davis
(1965–)
OSCAR
2016
EMMY
2015
TONY
2001
2010
TOTAL
4
Viola Davis is the only African-American to achieve the triple crown of acting. Davis’ 2015 Emmy was awarded for her leading role as law professor Annalise Keating in the television series How to Get Away with Murder. One of her two Tonys was awarded in 2010 for her work in August Wilson’s play Fences. She won an Oscar six years later for the same role in the film adaptation alongside Denzel Washington.
Thomas Mitchell
(1892–1962)
OSCAR
1939
EMMY
1953
TONY
1953
TOTAL
3
American actor Thomas Mitchell is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Gerald O’Hara in the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind, yet his Best Supporting Actor Oscar was awarded the same year for Doc Boone in Stagecoach. Mitchell received his other awards in 1953, including a Tony for the Broadway production of the musical Hazel Flagg.
Paul Scofield
(1922–2008)
OSCAR
1966
EMMY
1969
TONY
1962
TOTAL
3
Paul Scofield’s Oscar, Emmy and Tony were all awarded in the 1960s, chief among them a 1962 Tony award for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More in A Man for all Seasons and an Oscar four years later for the same role on film.
Geoffrey Rush
(1951–)
