Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre. The award is given to actresses for quality leading roles in a Broadway play.[1] Despite the award first being presented in 1947, there were no nominees announced until 1956. There have been two ties in this category, and one three-way tie.
| Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play |
| Location | New York City |
| Presented by | American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League |
| Currently held by | Elaine May for The Waverly Gallery (2019) |
| Website | TonyAwards.com |
Winners and nomineesEdit
indicates the winner
1940sEdit
| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 1st Tony Awards | |||
| Ingrid Bergman | Joan of Lorraine | Mary Grey / Joan of Arc | |
| Helen Hayes | Happy Birthday | Addie Bemis | |
| 1948 2nd Tony Awards | |||
| Judith Anderson | Medea | Medea | |
| Katharine Cornell | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | |
| Jessica Tandy | A Streetcar Named Desire | Blanche DuBois | |
| 1949 3rd Tony Awards | |||
| Martita Hunt | The Madwoman of Chaillot | Countess Aurelia |
1950sEdit
1960sEdit
1970sEdit
1980sEdit
1990sEdit
2000sEdit
2010sEdit
2020sEdit
| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic |
N/A | ||
Multiple winsEdit
Multiple nominationsEdit
Multiple character winsEdit
|
|
Multiple character nominationsEdit
|
|
Productions with multiple nominationsEdit
- The Chalk Garden -- Gladys Cooper and Siobhán McKenna
- Toys In The Attic -- Maureen Stapleton and Irene Worth
- The Killing of Sister George -- Beryl Reid (winner) and Eileen Atkins
- 'night, Mother -- Kathy Bates and Anne Pitoniak
- A Streetcar Named Desire -- Blythe Danner and Frances McDormand
- The Sisters Rosensweig -- Madeline Kahn (winner) and Jane Alexander
- A Delicate Balance -- Rosemary Harris and Elaine Stritch
- August: Osage County -- Deanna Dunagan (winner) and Amy Morton
- God of Carnage -- Marcia Gay Harden (winner) and Hope Davis
- Mary Stuart -- Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter (God of Carnage and Mary Stuart were produced in the same year)
Multiple awards and nominationsEdit
Actress who have been nominated multiple times in any acting categoriesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Kirkley, Donald (April 21, 1968). "Operation Frenzy Before the Tony Awards". The Baltimore Sun. p. T2. Retrieved December 24, 2011.