Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play | |
---|---|
![]() 2022 Recipient: Simon Russell Beale | |
Awarded for | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play |
Location | New York City |
Presented by | American Theatre Wing The Broadway League |
Currently held by | Simon Russell Beale for The Lehman Trilogy (2022) |
Website | TonyAwards.com |
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor 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, to actors for quality leading roles in a Broadway play. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year."[1] Despite the award first being presented in 1947, there were no nominees announced until 1956.
Winners and nominees
indicates the winner
1940s
Year | Actor | Role | Play |
---|---|---|---|
1940s | |||
1947 (1st) |
Jose Ferrer | Cyrano De Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac |
Fredric March | Clinton Jones | Years Ago | |
1948 (2nd) |
Henry Fonda | Lt. Roberts | Mister Roberts |
Paul Kelly | Brigadier General K.C. Dennis | Command Decision | |
Basil Rathbone | Dr. Austin Sloper | The Heiress | |
1949 (3rd) |
Rex Harrison | Henry VIII | Anne of the Thousand Days |
1950s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Sidney_Blackmer.jpg/120px-Sidney_Blackmer.jpg)
Sidney Blackmer won for Come Back, Little Sheba in 1950
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Paul_Muni_-_Zola_-_1936.jpg/120px-Paul_Muni_-_Zola_-_1936.jpg)
Paul Muni won for Inherit the Wind (1956)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Fredric_March_face.jpg/120px-Fredric_March_face.jpg)
Fredric March won for Long Day's Journey into Night in 1957
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Jason_Robards-1975.jpg/120px-Jason_Robards-1975.jpg)
Jason Robards won for The Disenchanted (1959)
1960s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Allan_Warren.jpg/120px-Allan_Warren.jpg)
Paul Scofield won for A Man for All Seasons (1963)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Alec_Guinness_6_Allan_Warren.jpg/120px-Alec_Guinness_6_Allan_Warren.jpg)
Alec Guinness won for Dylan (1964)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Walter_Matthau_-_1952.jpg/120px-Walter_Matthau_-_1952.jpg)
Walter Matthau won for The Odd Couple (1965)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/James_Earl_Jones_Baltimore.jpg/120px-James_Earl_Jones_Baltimore.jpg)
James Earl Jones won for The Great White Hope (1969)
1970s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Alan_Bates.jpg/120px-Alan_Bates.jpg)
Alan Bates won for Butley (1973)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Al_Pacino_-_Hummel.jpg/120px-Al_Pacino_-_Hummel.jpg)
Al Pacino won for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1977)
1980s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/SDCC13_-_Ian_McKellen.jpg/120px-SDCC13_-_Ian_McKellen.jpg)
Ian McKellen won for Amadeus (1981)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Jeremy_Irons.jpg/120px-Jeremy_Irons.jpg)
Jeremy Irons won for The Real Thing (1984)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Derek_Jacobi_2013.jpg/120px-Derek_Jacobi_2013.jpg)
Derek Jacobi won for Much Ado About Nothing (1985)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/James_Earl_Jones_Baltimore.jpg/120px-James_Earl_Jones_Baltimore.jpg)
James Earl Jones won for Fences (1987)
1990s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Robert_Morse_at_PaleyFest_2014.jpg/120px-Robert_Morse_at_PaleyFest_2014.jpg)
Robert Morse won Tru (1990)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Ralph_Fiennes_from_%22The_White_Crow%22_at_Opening_Ceremony_of_the_Tokyo_International_Film_Festival_2018_%2831747095048%29.jpg/120px-Ralph_Fiennes_from_%22The_White_Crow%22_at_Opening_Ceremony_of_the_Tokyo_International_Film_Festival_2018_%2831747095048%29.jpg)
Ralph Fiennes for Hamlet (1995)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Christopher_Plummer_2014.jpg/120px-Christopher_Plummer_2014.jpg)
Christopher Plummer won for Barrymore (1997)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/BrianDennehyJul2009.jpg/120px-BrianDennehyJul2009.jpg)
Brian Dennehy won twice for Death of a Salesman (1999) and Long Days Journey into Night (2003)
2000s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/International_Peace_Institute_President_Terje_R%C3%B8d-Larsen_and_Jefferson_Mays_%28Mays_cropped%29.jpg/120px-International_Peace_Institute_President_Terje_R%C3%B8d-Larsen_and_Jefferson_Mays_%28Mays_cropped%29.jpg)
Jefferson Mays won for I Am My Own Wife in 2004
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/BAFTA_2007_%28387023768%29.jpg/120px-BAFTA_2007_%28387023768%29.jpg)
Richard Griffiths won for The History Boys in 2006
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Frank_Langella_Deauville_2012.jpg/120px-Frank_Langella_Deauville_2012.jpg)
Frank Langella won for Frost/Nixon in 2007
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Mark_Rylance_Cannes_2016.jpg/120px-Mark_Rylance_Cannes_2016.jpg)
Mark Rylance won for Boeing-Boeing (2008), and Jerusalem (2011)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Geoffrey_Rush_Final_Portrait_Red_Carpet_Berlinale_2017_01_%28cropped%29.jpg/120px-Geoffrey_Rush_Final_Portrait_Red_Carpet_Berlinale_2017_01_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Geoffrey Rush won for Exit the King in 2009
2010s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Denzel_Washington_%2829479254650%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/120px-Denzel_Washington_%2829479254650%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Denzel Washington won for Fences (2010)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/James_Corden_at_2015_PaleyFest_%28cropped%29.jpg/120px-James_Corden_at_2015_PaleyFest_%28cropped%29.jpg)
James Corden won for One Man, Two Guvnors (2012)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Tracy_Letts_at_2013_Toronto_Film_Festival.jpg/120px-Tracy_Letts_at_2013_Toronto_Film_Festival.jpg)
Tracy Letts won for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Bryan_Cranston_at_the_2018_Berlin_Film_Festival_%282%29.jpg/120px-Bryan_Cranston_at_the_2018_Berlin_Film_Festival_%282%29.jpg)
Bryan Cranston has won the award twice, for All the Way (2014) and Network (2019)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Kevin_Kline_%285534856504%29.jpg/120px-Kevin_Kline_%285534856504%29.jpg)
Kevin Kline won for Present Laughter in 2017
2020s
Year | Actor | Role | Play | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020s | ||||
2020 74th Tony Awards | ||||
Andrew Burnap | Toby Darling | The Inheritance | ||
Ian Barford | Wheeler | Linda Vista | ||
Jake Gyllenhaal | Abe | Sea Wall/A Life | ||
Tom Hiddleston | Robert | Betrayal | ||
Tom Sturridge | Alex | Sea Wall/A Life | ||
Blair Underwood | Captain Richard Davenport | A Soldier's Play | ||
2021 Ceremony not held |
— | |||
2022 75th Tony Awards | ||||
Simon Russell Beale | Henry Lehman | The Lehman Trilogy | ||
Adam Godley | Mayer Lehman | The Lehman Trilogy | ||
Adrian Lester | Emanuel Lehman | |||
David Morse | Uncle Peck | How I Learned to Drive | ||
Sam Rockwell | Teach | American Buffalo | ||
Ruben Santiago-Hudson | Various | Lackawanna Blues | ||
David Threlfall | Harry Wade | Hangmen |
Multiple wins
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