Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

Award

The Tony Award for Best Featured 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, to actresses for quality supporting 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]

The award was originally called the Tony Award for Actress, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic). Patricia Neal won the first such award for her portrayal of Regina Hubbard in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. Before 1956, nominees' names were not made public:^[2] the change was made by the awards committee to "have a greater impact on theatregoers".^[3] The award was renamed in 1976, when Shirley Knight became the first winner under the new title for her role as Carla in Robert Patrick's Kennedy's Children. Its most recent recipient is Miriam Silverman for the role of Mavis Parodus Bryson, in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window.

Six actresses (Christine Baranski, Judith Ivey, Judith Light, Swoosie Kurtz, Audra McDonald, and Frances Sternhagen) hold the record for most awards in this category, each with two total. Portrayals of Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun and Mavis Parodus Bryson in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window have won twice.

Winners and nominees

1947 award winner Patricia Neal

Maureen Stapleton won for The Rose Tattoo (1951)

Beatrice Straight won for The Crucible (1953)

Jo Van Fleet won for The Trip to Bountiful (1954)

Una Merkel won for The Ponder Heart (1956)

1958 award winner Anne Bancroft

Julie Newmar won for The Marriage-Go-Round (1959)

Anne Revere won for Toys in the Attic (1960)

Colleen Dewhurst won for All the Way Home (1961)

Sandy Dennis won for A Thousand Clowns (1963)

Barbara Loden in After the Hall (1964)

Alice Ghostley won for The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1965)

Marian Seldes won for A Delicate Balance (1967)

Jane Alexander won for The Great White Hope (1969)

Blythe Danner won for Butterflies Are Free (1970)

Frances Sternhagen won twice The Good Doctor (1974) and The Heiress (1995)

Rita Moreno won for The Ritz (1975)

Shirley Knight won for Kennedy's Children (1976)

Two-time award winner Swoosie Kurtz in 1981 and 1986

Mary Alice won for Fences (1987)

Margaret Tyzack won for Lettice and Lovage (1990)

Christine Baranski won twice for The Real Thing (1984) and Rumors (1989)

Debra Monk won for Redwood Curtain (1993)

Two-time award winner Audra McDonald

2000 award winner Blair Brown

2001 award winner Viola Davis

Katie Finneran won for Noises Off (2002)

Frances de la Tour won for The History Boys (2006)

Jennifer Ehle won for The Coast of Utopia (2007)

Angela Lansbury won for Blythe Spirit (2009)

2010 award winner Scarlett Johansson

Ellen Barkin won for The Normal Heart (2011)

Judith Light won twice for Other Desert Cities (2012) and The Assembled Parties (2013)

Sophie Okonedo won A Raisin' in the Sun (2014)

Annaleigh Ashford won for You Can't Take it With You (2015)

Jayne Houdyshell won for The Humans (2016)

Cynthia Nixon won for The Little Foxes (2017)

Laurie Metcalf won for Three Tall Women (2018

Lois Smith won for The Inheritance (2020)

Miriam Silverman won for The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (2023)

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Statistics

Most wins

2 wins

• Christine Baranski
• Judith Ivey
• Swoosie Kurtz
• Judith Light (consecutive)
• Audra McDonald
• Frances Sternhagen

Most nominations

5 nominations

• Frances Sternhagen

4 nominations

• Dana Ivey
• Celia Keenan-Bolger

3 nominations

• Elizabeth Franz
• Eileen Heckart
• Jayne Houdyshell
• Judith Ivey
• Swoosie Kurtz
• Judith Light
• Condola Rashād
• Marian Seldes
• Lois Smith
• Zoë Wanamaker
• Julie White
• Kara Young

2 nominations

• Jane Alexander
• Rae Allen
• Christine Baranski
• Leora Dana
• Viola Davis
• Johanna Day
• Linda Emond
• Fionnula Flanagan
• Alice Ghostley
• Mary Beth Hurt
• Zohra Lampert
• Linda Lavin
• Anna Manahan
• Jan Maxwell
• Audra McDonald
• Laurie Metcalf
• Debra Monk
• Rosemary Murphy
• Cynthia Nixon
• Martha Plimpton
• Amy Ryan
• Carole Shelley
• Maureen Stapleton
• Margaret Tyzack

Character win total

2 wins

• Mavis Parodus Bryson from The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window
• Ruth Younger from A Raisin in the Sun

Character nomination total

3 nominations

• Brooke Ashton from Noises Off
• Honey from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Mavis Parodus Bryson from The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

2 nominations

• Bananas Shaughnessy from The House of Blue Leaves
• Beneatha Younger from A Raisin in the Sun
• Beverly from The Shadow Box
• Big Mama Pollitt from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Birdie Hubbard from The Little Foxes
• Charlotte from The Real Thing
• Hannah Pitt (and others) from Angels in America
• Harper Pitt (and others) from Angels in America
• Lady Gay Spanker from London Assurance
• Lady in Red from For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
• Lavinia Penniman from The Heiress
• Linda Loman from Death of a Salesman
• Madge Kendal from The Elephant Man
• Maria Merelli from Lend Me a Tenor
• Marthy Owen from Anna Christie
• Mrs. Muller from Doubt
• Ruth Younger from A Raisin in the Sun

Productions with multiple featured nominations

boldface=Winner

• Separate Tables – Beryl Measor and Phyllis Neilson-Terry
• Butterflies Are Free – Blythe Danner and Eileen Heckart
• Absurd Person Singular – Geraldine Page and Carole Shelley
• The Shadow Box – Patricia Elliott and Rose Gregorio
• Bedroom Farce – Joan Hickson and Susan Littler
• Crimes of the Heart – Mia Dillon and Mary Beth Hurt
• Hurlyburly – Judith Ivey and Sigourney Weaver
• The House of Blue Leaves – Stockard Channing and Swoosie Kurtz
• Joe Turner's Come and Gone – Kimberleigh Aarn, L. Scott Caldwell and Kimberly Scott
• Our Country's Good – Amelia Campbell and J. Smith-Cameron
• Angels in America: Millennium Approaches – Kathleen Chalfant and Marcia Gay Harden
• Dancing at Lughnasa – Brid Brennan, Rosaleen Linehan and Dearbhla Molloy
• Picnic – Debra Monk and Anne Pitoniak
• Seven Guitars – Viola Davis and Michele Shay
• The Last Night of Ballyhoo – Dana Ivey and Celia Weston
• Morning's at Seven – Elizabeth Franz, Estelle Parsons and Frances Sternhagen
• Dinner at Eight – Christine Ebersole and Marian Seldes
• A Raisin in the Sun – Sanaa Lathan and Audra McDonald
• Doubt: A Parable – Heather Goldenhersh and Adriane Lenox
• The Coast of Utopia – Jennifer Ehle and Martha Plimpton
• The Norman Conquests – Jessica Hynes and Amanda Root
• A View from the Bridge – Jessica Hecht and Scarlett Johansson
• A Raisin in the Sun – Sophie Okonedo and Anika Noni Rose
• Noises Off – Megan Hilty and Andrea Martin
• A Doll's House, Part 2 – Jayne Houdyshell and Condola Rashād
• Sweat – Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson (Both this and A Doll's House, Part 2 were nominated the same year)
• Angels in America – Susan Brown and Denise Gough
• Slave Play – Chalia La Tour and Annie McNamara
• Clyde's – Uzo Aduba and Kara Young
• POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive – Rachel Dratch and Julie White (Both this and Clyde's were nominated the same year)
• Cost of Living – Katy Sullivan and Kara Young
• Stereophonic – Juliana Canfield and Sarah Pidgeon

Multiple awards and nominations

Actresses who have been nominated multiple times in any acting categories

Trivia

• Supporting actresses in two of three plays in Neil Simon's Eugene trilogy (Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound) were nominated for the Tony.
• Featured actresses in six parts of August Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle have been nominated for the award.
• Featured actress Trazana Beverley in Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf is the first African American actor to receive the award.

See also

• Theatre portal

• Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• List of Tony Award-nominated productions

References

1. Kirkley, Donald (April 21, 1968). "Operation Frenzy Before the Tony Awards". The Baltimore Sun. p. T2. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2011.(subscription required)
2. Simons, Linda Keir (1994). The Performing Arts: a Guide to the Reference Literature. ABC-CLIO. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-87287-982-9. Archived from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
3. Gelb, Arthur (April 1, 1956). "Popularizing the Tony Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2011. (subscription required)
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49. "2001 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
50. "2002 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
51. "2003 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
52. "2004 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
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54. "2006 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
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58. "2010 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
59. "2011 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
60. "2012 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
61. "2013 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
62. "2014 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
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64. "2016 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
65. "2017 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
66. "2018 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
67. "2019 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
68. "2020 Tony Awards Nominees". American Theatre Wing. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
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External links

• Internet Broadway Database Awards Archive
• Official Tony Awards Website Archive