President, Nobel laureate and now Emmy winner

President, Nobel laureate and now Emmy winner

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Hollywood newcomer Barack Obama has been awarded an Emmy for the narration of his Netflix documentary series Our Great National Parks, the Television Academy announced Saturday.

The former two-year-old US president had already won two Grammy Awards — for audio versions of his memoirs The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father — so now all he needs is an Oscar and a Tony to complete the precious EGOT.

According to an Entertainment Weekly tracker, only 17 people have achieved an EGOT, including Mel Brooks, Whoopie Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn and – most recently – Jennifer Hudson.

Another president had already won an Emmy—Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956—although his was an honorary award.

After leaving office in 2017, both Obama and his wife, Michelle, have each written best-selling memoirs and, in addition to their charitable foundation, started a production company that struck a major deal with Netflix reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars.

Her company’s first documentary for the American Factory streaming service won an Academy Award for Best Documentary and an Emmy for Directing, though the awards went to the filmmakers, not the Obamas themselves.

Obama’s successor in the presidency, Donald Trump, did not win an Emmy for his reality competition show The Apprentice, despite being nominated twice.

Other nominees in Obama’s Narrator category included former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (“Black Patriots: Heroes Of The Civil War”), Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o (“Serengeti II) and veteran naturalist David Attenborough (“The Mating Game”).

After winning the 2008 presidential election, Obama also received the Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation among peoples”.

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