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Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

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The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play is awarded to the actress who was voted as the best actress in a play, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been announced since 1947, but the nominees who did not win have only been announced since 1956.

[edit] Multiple Wins

5 Wins


  • Julie Harris
    • 1952 I am Camera
    • 1956 The Lack
    • 1969 Forty Carats
    • 1973 The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
    • 1977 The Belle of Amherst


3 Wins


  • Zoe Caldwell
    • 1968 The Prime of Miss Jean Brody
    • 1982 Medea
    • 1996 Master Class


  • Jessica Tandy
    • 1948 A Street Car Named Desire (tied with Judith Anderson, Medea, and Katharine Cornell, Antony and Cleopatra)
    • 1978 The Gin Game
    • 1983 Foxfire


2 Wins


  • Shirley Booth
    • 1950 Come Back, Little Sheba
    • 1953 Time of the Cuckoo


  • Glenn Close
    • 1984 The Real Thing
    • 1992 Death and The Maiden


  • Cherry Jones
    • 1995 The Heiress
    • 2005 Doubt


  • Uta Hagen
    • 1951 The Country Girl
    • 1963 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


  • Helen Hayes
    • 1947 Happy Birthday (tied with Ingrid Bergman, Joan of Lorraine)
    • 1958 Time Remembered


  • Margaret Leighton
    • 1957 Separate Tables
    • 1962 The Night of the Iguana

[edit] Multiple Nominees

9 Nominations


Julie Harris

1952 I Am a Camera (won)

1956 The Lark (won)

1964 Marathon '33

1969 Forty Carats (won)

1973 The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (won)

1974 The Au Pair Man

1977 The Belle of Amherst (won)

1991 Lucifer's Child

1997 The Gin Game


8 Nominations


Rosemary Harris

1966 The Lion in Winter (won)

1972 Old Times

1976 The Royal Family

1984 Heartbreak House

1985 Pack of Lies

1986 Hay Fever

1996 A Delicate Balance

2000 Waiting in the Wings


7 Nominations


Colleen Dewhurst

1962 Great Day in the Morning

1964 The Ballad of the Sad Café

1968 More Stately Mansions

1972 All Over

1973 Mourning Becomes Electra

1974 A Moon for the Misbegotten (won)

1977 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


6 Nominations


Jane Alexander

1973 6 Rms Riv Vu

1974 Find Your Way Home

1979 First Monday in October

1992 The Visit

1993 The Sisters Rosensweig

1998 Honour


4 Nominations


Eileen Atkins

1967 The Killing of Sister George

1972 Vivat! Vivat! Regina!

1995 Indiscretions

2004 The Retreat From Moscow


Stockard Channing

1985 Joe Egg (won)

1991 Six Degrees of Separation

1992 Four Baboons Adoring the Sun

1999 The Lion in Winter


Cherry Jones

1991 Our Country's Good

1995 The Heiress (won)

2000 A Moon for the Misbegotten

2005 Doubt (won)


Margaret Leighton

1957 Separate Tables (won)

1960 Much Ado About Nothing

1962 The Night of the Iguana (won)

1963 Tchin-Tchin


Maureen Stapleton

1959 The Cold Wind and the Warm

1960 Toys in the Attic

1968 Plaza Suite

1971 The Gingerbread Lady (won)


Jessica Tandy

1948 A Streetcar Named Desire (won)

1978 The Gin Game (won)

1983 Foxfire (won)

1986 The Petition


Irene Worth

1960 Toys in the Attic

1965 Tiny Alice (won)

1976 Sweet Bird of Youth

1977 The Cherry Orchard


3 Nominations


Zoe Caldwell

1968 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (won)

1982 Medea (won)

1996 Master Class (won)


Helen Hayes

1947 Happy Birthday (won)

1958 Time Remembered (won)

1970 Harvey


Glenda Jackson

1981 Rose

1985 Strange Interlude

1988 Macbeth


Madeline Kahn

1974 Boom Boom Room

1989 Born Yesterday

1993 The Sisters Rosensweig (won)


Kate Nelligan

1983 Plenty

1984 A Moon for the Misbegotten

1989 Spoils of War


Geraldine Page

1960 Sweet Bird of Youth

1982 Agnes of God

1987 Blithe Spirit


Mary-Louise Parker

1990 Prelude to a Kiss

2001 Proof (won)

2005 Reckless


Estelle Parsons

1969 Seven Descents of Myrtle

1971 And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little

1978 Miss Margarida's Way


Lynn Redgrave

1976 Mrs. Warren's Profession

1993 Shakespeare for my Father

2006 The Constant Wife


Diana Rigg

1971 Abelard and Heloise

1975 The Misanthrope

1994 Medea (won)


Maggie Smith

1975 Private Lives

1980 Night and Day

1990 Lettice and Lovage (won)


2 Wins


Joan Allen

1988 Burn This (won)

1989 The Heidi Chronicles


Elizabeth Ashley

1964 Barefoot in the Park

1975 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof


Jayne Atkinson

2000 The Rainmaker

2003 Enchanted April


Anne Bancroft

1960 The Miracle Worker (won)

1978 Golda


Barbara Bel Geddes

1956 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

1961 Mary, Mary


Shirley Booth

1950 Come Back, Little Sheba (won)

1953 Time of the Cuckoo (won)


Glenn Close

1984 The Real Thing (won)

1992 Death and the Maiden (won)


Blythe Danner

1980 Betrayal

1988 A Streetcar Named Desire


Lindsay Duncan

1987 Les Liaisons Dangereuses

2002 Private Lives (won)


Tovah Feldshuh

1976 Yentl

2004 Golda's Balcony


Uta Hagen

1951 The Country Girl (won)

1963 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (won)


Linda Lavin

1987 Broadway Bound (won)

2001 The Tale of the Allergist's Wife


Laura Linney

2002 The Crucible

2005 Sight Unseen


Siobhan McKenna

1956 The Chalk Garden

1958 The Rope Dancers


Claudia McNeil

1960 A Raisin in the Sun

1963 Tiger Tiger Burning Bright


Helen Mirren

1995 A Month in the Country

2002 Dance of Death


Amanda Plummer

1982 A Taste of Honey

1987 Pygmalion


Phylicia Rashad

2004 A Raisin in the Sun (won)

2005 Gem of the Ocean


Mercedes Ruehl

1991 Lost in Yonkers (won)

2002 The Goat or Who is Sylvia


Marian Seldes

1971 Father's Day

1999 Ring Round the Moon


Kim Stanley

1959 A Touch of the Poet

1962 A Far Country


Kathleen Turner

1990 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

2005 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


Liv Ullmann

1975 A Doll's House

1977 Anna Christie


[edit] Trivia

There have only been three ties in the history of this category:

1947 Between Ingrid Bergman, Joan of Lorraine, and Helen Hayes, Happy Birthday ;

1948 A triple tie: Judith Anderson, Medea, Katharine Cornell, Antony and Cleopatra, and Jessica Tandy, A Streetcar Named Desire ;

1979 Constance Cummings, Wings, and Carole Shelley, The Elephant Man.


The female lead role in Medea, commonly regarded as the greatest theatric role for a female actor, has collected most wins in Tony Awards history in this category:

1948 Judith Anderson

1982 Zoe Caldwell

1994 Diana Rigg

Additionally, one last nomination was announced to Fiona Shaw in 2003.


The female lead role in Private Lives, is the only other role with multiple wins in this category:

1970 Tammy Grimes

2002 Lindsay Duncan

Additionally, Maggie Smith was nominated for the same role in 1975.


Julie Harris reigns supreme in the category with 5 wins among 9 nominations. Closest in nominations are Rosemary Harris (8) and Colleen Dewhurst (7). Each of them has won only once, though.


Jane Alexander has been nominated 6 times, but has never won. She's the category greatest "loser". Other multiple nominees who have never won are Eileen Atkins (4), Glenda Jackson (3), Kate Nelligan (3), Geraldine Page (3), Estelle Parsons (3) and Lynn Redgrave (3).


There has never bin a consecutive winner in this category. There have been, though, some consecutive nominations. Rosemary Harris and Colleen Dewhurst hold the record with 3 consecutive nominations (1984-1985-1986 and 1972-1973-1974, respectively).


Colleen Dewhurst also holds the record for most nominations in a single decade. She was nominated four times in the 70's, three times consecutively (1972-1973-1974) and once more in 1977. She won in 1974, for her performance in A Moon for the Misbegotten.


Three other actresses were nominated for their performances in A Moon for the Misbegotten: Wendy Hiller (1958), Kate Nelligan (1984) and Cherry Jones (2000). None of them won.

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