Who Won Lead Actress In A Play Tony Awards?
From Ingrid Bergman ("Joan of Lorraine") in 1948 to Sarah Paulson ("Appropriate") in 2024, the Tony Awards have awarded excellence in acting on Broadway throughout the years. Julie Harris has won the Tony for Leading Actress in a Play five times.
| 2024 (77th) |
Sarah Paulson Appropriate Other Nominees: Betsy Aidem (Prayer for the French Republic); Jessica Lange (Mother Play); Rachel McAdams (Mary Jane); Amy Ryan (Doubt: A Parable) |
| 2023 (76th) |
Jodie Comer Prima Facie Other Nominees: Jessica Chastain (A Doll's House); Jessica Hecht (Summer, 1976); Audra McDonald (Ohio State Murders) |
| 2022 (75th) |
Deirdre O'Connell Dana H. Other Nominees: Gabby Beans (The Skin of Our Teeth); LaChanze (Trouble in Mind); Ruth Negga (Macbeth); Mary-Louise Parker (How I Learned to Drive) |
| 2021 (74th) |
Mary-Louise Parker Tina Other Nominees: Joaquina Kalukango (Slave Play); Laura Linney (My Name Is Lucy Barton); Audra McDonald (Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) |
| 2019 (73rd) |
Elaine May The Waverly Gallery Other Nominees: Annette Bening (All My Sons); Laura Donnelly (The Ferryman); Janet McTeer (Bernhardt/Hamlet); Laurie Metcalf (Hillary and Clinton); Heidi Schreck (What the Constitution Means to Me) |
| 2018 (72nd) |
Glenda Jackson Three Tall Women Other Nominees: Condola Rashād (Saint Joan); Lauren Ridloff (Children of a Lesser God); Amy Schumer (Meteor Shower) |
| 2017 (71st) |
Laurie Metcalf A Doll's House, Part 2 Other Nominees: Cate Blanchett (The Present); Jennifer Ehle (Oslo); Sally Field (The Glass Menagerie); Laura Linney (The Little Foxes) |
| Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Jessica Lange | (Long Day's Journey Into Night) |  |
| 2015 | Helen Mirren | (The Audience) |  |
| 2014 | Audra McDonald | (Lady Day At Emerson's Bar & Grill ) |  |
| 2013 | Cicely Tyson | (The Trip To Bountiful) |  |
| 2012 | Nina Arianda | (Venus In Fur) |  |
| 2011 | Frances McDormand | (Good People) |  |
| 2010 | Viola Davis | (Fences) |  |
| 2009 | Marcia Gay Harden | (God Of Carnage) |  |
| 2008 | Deanna Dunagan | (August: Osage County) |  |
| 2007 | Julie White | (The Little Dog Laughed) |  |
| 2006 | Cynthia Nixon | (Rabbit Hole) |  |
| 2005 | Cherry Jones | (Doubt) |  |
| 2004 | Phylicia Rashad | (A Raisin In The Sun) |  |
| 2003 | Vanessa Redgrave | (Long Day's Journey Into Night) |  |
| 2002 | Lindsay Duncan | (Private Lives) |  |
| 2001 | Mary-Louise Parker | (Proof) |  |
| 2000 | Jennifer Ehle | (The Real Thing) |  |
| 1999 | Judi Dench | (Amy's View) |  |
| 1998 | Marie Mullen | (The Beauty Queen Of Leenane) |  |
| 1997 | Janet McTeer | (A Doll's House) |  |
| 1996 | Zoe Caldwell | (Master Class) |  |
| 1995 Cherry Jones ("The Heiress") | |
| Other Nominees: Mary Alice (Having Our Say); Eileen Atkins (Indiscretions); Helen Mirren (A Month in the Country) | |
| 1994 Diana Rigg ("Medea") | |
| Other Nominees: Nancy Marchand (Black Comedy); Joan Rivers (Sally Marr?and Her Escorts); Anna Deavere Smith (Twilight: Los Angeles 1992) | |
| 1993 Madeline Kahn ("The Sisters Rosensweig") | |
| Other Nominees: Jane Alexander (The Sisters Rosensweig); Lynn Redgrave (Shakespeare for my Father); Natasha Richardson (Anna Christie) | |
| 1992 Glenn Close ("Death and the Maiden") | |
| Other Nominees: Jane Alexander (The Visit); Stockard Channing (Four Baboons Adoring the Sun); Judith Ivey (Park Your Car In Harvard Yard) | |
| 1991 Mercedes Ruehl ("Lost In Yonkers") | |
| Other Nominees: Stockard Channing (Sex Degrees of Separation); Julie Harris (Lucifer's Child); Cherry Jones (Our Country's Good) | |
| 1990 Maggie Smith ("Lettice and Lovage") | |
| Other Nominees: Geraldine James (The Merchant of Venice); Mary-Louise Parker (Prelude To A Kiss); Kathleen Turner (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) | |
| 1989 Pauline Collins ("Shirley Valentine") | |
| Other Nominees: Joan Allen (The Heidi Chronicles); Madeline Kahn (Born Yesterday); Kate Nelligan (Spoils Of War) | |
| 1988 Joan Allen ("Burn This") | |
| Other Nominees: Blythe Danner (A Streetcar Named Desire); Glenda Jackson (Macbeth); Frances McDormand (A Streetcar Named Desire) | |
| 1987 Linda Lavin ("Broadway Bound") | |
| Other Nominees: Lindsay Duncan (Les Liaisons Dangereuses); Geraldine Page (Blithe Spirit); Amanda Plummer (Pygmalion) | |
| 1986 Lily Tomlin ("The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe") | |
| Other Nominees: Rosemary Harris (Hay Fever); Mary Beth Hurt (Benefactors); Jessica Tandy (The Petition) | |
| 1985 Stockard Channing ("Joe Egg") | |
| Other Nominees: Sinead Cusack (Much Ado About Nothing); Rosemary Harris (Pack of Lies); Glenda Jackson (Strange Interlude) | |
| 1984 Glenn Close ("The Real Thing") | |
| Other Nominees: Rosemary Harris (Heartbreak House); Linda Hunt (End of the World); Kate Nelligan (A Moon for the Misbegotten) | |
| 1983 Jessica Tandy ("Foxfire") | |
| Other Nominees: Kathy Bates (Night Mother); Kate Nelligan (Plenty); Anne Pitoniak (Night Mother) | |
| 1982 Zoe Caldwell ("Medea") | |
| Other Nominees: Katharine Hepburn (The West Side Waltz); Geraldine Page (Agnes Of God); Amanda Plummer (A Taste of Honey) | |
| 1981 Jane Lapotaire ("Piaf") | |
| Other Nominees: Glenda Jackson (Rose); Eva Le Gallienne (To Grandmother's House We Go); Elizabeth Taylor (The Little Foxes) | |
| 1980 Phyllis Frelich ("Children Of A Lesser God") | |
| Other Nominees: Blythe Danner (Betrayal); Maggie Smith (Night and Day); Anne Twomey (Nuts) | |
| 1979 Constance Cummings ("Wings") | |
| TIE | |
| Other Nominees: Jane Alexander (First Monday In October); Frances Sternhagen (On Golden Pond) | |
| 1979 Carole Shelley ("The Elephant Man") | |
| TIE | |
| Other Nominees: Jane Alexander (First Monday In October); Frances Sternhagen (On Golden Pond) | |
| 1978 Jessica Tandy ("The Gin Game") | |
| Other Nominees: Anne Bancroft (Golda); Anita Gillette (Chapter Two); Estelle Parsons (Miss Margarida's Way) | |
| 1977 Julie Harris ("The Belle of Amherst") | |
| Other Nominees: Colleen Dewhurst (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?); Liv Ullmann (Anna Christie); Irene Worth (The Cherry Orchard) | |
| 1976 Irene Worth ("Sweet Bird Of Youth") | |
| Other Nominees: Tovah Feldshuh (Yentl); Rosemary Harris (The Royal Family); Lynn Redgrave (Mrs Warren's Profession) | |
| 1975 Ellen Burstyn ("Same Time Next Year") | |
| Other Nominees: Elizabeth Ashley (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof); Diana Rigg (The Misanthrope); Maggie Smith (Private Lives); Liv Ullmann (A Doll's House) | |
| 1974 Colleen Dewhurst ("A Moon For the Misbegotten") | |
| Other Nominees: Jane Alexander (Find Your Way Home); Julie Harris (The Au Pair Man); Madeline Kahn (Boom Boom Boom); Rachel Roberts () | |
| 1973 Julie Harris ("The Last of Mrs Lincoln") | |
| Other Nominees: Jane Alexander (6 Rms Riv Vu); Colleen Dewhurst (Mourning Becomes Electra); Kathleen Widdoes (Much Ado About Nothing) | |
| 1972 Sada Thompson ("Twigs") | |
| Other Nominees: Eileen Atkins (Vivat! Vivat! Regina!); Colleen Dewhurst (All Over); Rosemary Harris (Old Times) | |
| 1971 Maureen Stapleton ("The Gingerbread Lady") | |
| Other Nominees: Estelle Parsons (And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little); Diana Rigg (Abelard and Heloise); Marian Seldes (Father's Day) | |
| 1970 Tammy Grimes ("Private Lives") | |
| Other Nominees: Geraldine Brooks (Brightower); Helen Hayes (Harvey) | |
| 1969 Julie Harris ("Forty Carats") | |
| Other Nominees: Estelle Parsons (Seven Descents of Myrtle); Charlotte Rea (Morning Noon and Night); Brenda Vaccaro (The Goodbye People) | |
| 1968 Zoe Caldwell ("The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie") | |
| Other Nominees: Colleen Dewhurst (More Stately Mansions); Maureen Stapleton (Plaza Suite); Dorothy Tutin (Portrait of a Queen) | |
| 1967 Beryl Reid ("The Killing Of Sister George") | |
| Other Nominees: Eileen Atkins (The Killing of Sister George); Vivien Merchant (The Homecoming); Rosemary Murphy (A Delicate Balance) | |
| 1966 Rosemary Harris ("The Lion In Winter") | |
| Other Nominees: Sheila Hancock (Entertaining Mr Sloan); Kate Reid (Slapstick Tragedy); Lee Remick (Wait Until Dark) | |
| 1965 Irene Worth ("Tiny Alice") | |
| Other Nominees: Marjorie Rhodes (All in Good Time); Beah Richards (The Amen Corner); Diana Sands (The Owl and the Pussycat) | |
| 1964 Sandy Dennis ("Any Wednesday") | |
| Other Nominees: Elizabeth Ashley (Barefoot In the Park); Colleen Dewhurst (The Ballad of the Sad Cafe); Julie Harris (Marathon 33) | |
| 1963 Uta Hagen ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") | |
| Other Nominees: Hermione Baddeley (The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore); Margaret Leighton (Tchin-Tchin); Claudia McNeil (Tiger Tiger Burning Bright) | |
| 1962 Margaret Leighton ("The Night of the Iguana") | |
| Other Nominees: Gladys Cooper (A Passage To India); Colleen Dewhurst (Great Day In the Morning); Kim Stanley (A Far Country) | |
| 1961 Joan Plowright ("A Taste Of Honey") | |
| Other Nominees: Tallulah Bankhead (Midgie Purvis); Barbara Baxley (Period of Adjustment); Barbara Bel Geddes (Mary Mary) | |
| 1960 Anne Bancroft ("The Miracle Worker") | |
| Other Nominees: Margaret Leighton (Much Ado About Nothing); Claudia McNeil (A Raisin In the Sun); Geraldine Page (Sweet Bird of Youth); Maureen Stapleton (Toys In the Attic); Irene Worth (Toys in the Attic) | |
| 1959 Gertrude Berg ("A Majority Of One") | |
| Other Nominees: Claudette Colbert (The Marriage-Go-Round); Lynn Fontanne (The Visit); Kim Stanley (A Touch Of the Poet); Maureen Stapleton (The Cold Wind and the Warm) | |
| 1958 Helen Hayes ("Time Remembered") | |
| Other Nominees: Wendy Hiller (A Moon For the Misbegotten); Eugenie Leontovich (The Cave Dwellers); Siobhan McKenna (The Rope Dancers); Mary Ure (Look Back In Anger); Jo Van Fleet (Look Homeward Angel) | |
| 1957 Margaret Leighton ("Separate Tables") | |
| Other Nominees: Florence Eldridge (Long Day's Journey Into Night); Rosalind Russell (Auntie Mame); Sybil Thorndike (The Potting Shed) | |
| 1956 Julie Harris ("The Lark") | |
| Other Nominees: Barbara Bel Geddes (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof); Gladys Cooper (The Chalk Garden); Ruth Gordon (The Matchmaker); Siobhan McKenna (The Chalk Garden); Susan Strasberg (The Diary of Anne Frank) | |
| 1955 Nancy Kelly ("The Bad Seed") | |
| 1954 Audrey Hepburn ("Ondine") | |
| 1953 Shirley Booth ("Time of the Cuckoo") | |
| 1952 Julie Harris ("I Am A Camera") | |
| 1951 Uta Hagen ("The Country Girl") | |
| 1950 Shirley Booth ("Come Back Little Sheba") | |
| 1949 Martita Hunt ("The Madwoman of Chaillot") | |
| 1948 Judith Anderson ("Medea") | |
| Other Nominees: Katharine Cornell (Antony and Cleopatra); Jessica Tandy (A Streetcar Named Desire) | |
| 1947 Ingrid Bergman ("Joan of Lorraine") | |
| Other Nominees: Helen Hayes (Happy Birthday) | |