Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.

Award winners

1940s

• 1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago

• 1948 - Henry Fonda – Mister Roberts / Paul Kelly – Command Decision / Basil Rathbone – The Heiress

• 1949 - Rex Harrison – Anne of the Thousand Days

1950s

• 1950 - Sidney Blackmer – Come Back, Little Sheba

• 1951 - Claude Rains – Darkness at Noon

• 1952 - José Ferrer – The Shrike

• 1953 - Tom Ewell – The Seven Year Itch

• 1954 - David Wayne – The Teahouse of the August Moon

• 1955 - Alfred Lunt – Quadrille

• 1956 - Paul Muni – Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond
  • Ben Gazzara – A Hatful of Rain
  • Boris Karloff – The Lark
  • Michael Redgrave – Tiger at the Gates
  • Edward G. Robinson – Middle of the Night

• 1957 - Fredric March – Long Day's Journey into Night as James Tyrone Sr.
  • Maurice Evans – The Apple Cart
  • Wilfred Hyde-White – The Reluctant Debutante
  • Eric Portman – Separate Tables
  • Ralph Richardson – The Waltz of the Toreadors
  • Cyril Ritchard – Visit to a Small Planet

• 1958 - Ralph Bellamy – Sunrise at Campobello as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • Richard Burton – Time Remembered
  • Hugh Griffith – Look Homeward, Angel
  • Laurence Olivier – The Entertainer
  • Anthony Perkins – Look Homeward, Angel
  • Peter Ustinov – Romanoff and Juliet
  • Emlyn Williams – A Boy Growing Up

• 1959 - Jason Robards, Jr. – The Disenchanted as Manley Halliday
  • Cedric Hardwicke – A Majority of One
  • Alfred Lunt – The Visit
  • Christopher Plummer – J.B.
  • Cyril Ritchard – The Pleasure of His Company
  • Robert Stephens – Epitaph for George Dillon

1960s

• 1960 - Melvyn Douglas – The Best Man as William Russell
  • Lee Tracy – The Best Man
  • Jason Robards, Jr. – Toys in the Attic
  • Sidney Poitier – A Raisin in the Sun
  • George C. Scott – The Andersonville Trial

• 1961 - Zero Mostel – Rhinocéros as John
  • Hume Cronyn – Big Fish, Little Fish
  • Sam Levene – The Devil's Advocate
  • Anthony Quinn – Becket

• 1962 - Paul Scofield – A Man for All Seasons as Sir Thomas More
  • Fredric March – Gideon
  • John Mills – Ross
  • Donald Pleasence – The Caretaker

• 1963 - Arthur Hill – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as George
  • Charles Boyer – Lord Pengo
  • Paul Ford – Never Too Late
  • Bert Lahr – The Beauty Part

• 1964 - Alec Guinness – Dylan as Dylan Thomas
  • Richard Burton – Hamlet
  • Albert Finney – Luther
  • Jason Robards, Jr. – After the Fall

• 1965 - Walter Matthau – The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison
  • John Gielgud – Tiny Alice
  • Donald Pleasence – Poor Bitos
  • Jason Robards – Hughie

• 1966 - Hal Holbrook – Mark Twain Tonight as Mark Twain
  • Roland Culver – Ivanov
  • Donal Donnelly and Patrick Bedford – Philadelphia, Here I Come!
  • Nicol Williamson – Inadmissible Evidence

• 1967 - Paul Rogers – The Homecoming as Max
  • Hume Cronyn – A Delicate Balance
  • Donald Madden – Black Comedy
  • Donald Moffat – Right You Are and The Wild Duck

• 1968 - Martin Balsam – You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running as various characters
  • Albert Finney – A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
  • Milo O'Shea – Staircase
  • Alan Webb – I Never Sang for My Father

• 1969 - James Earl Jones – The Great White Hope as Jack Jefferson
  • Art Carney – Lovers
  • Alec McCowen – Hadrian the Seventh
  • Donald Pleasence – The Man in the Glass Booth

1970s

• 1970 - Fritz Weaver – Child's Play as Jerome Malley
  • James Coco – The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
  • Frank Grimes – Borstal Boy
  • Stacy Keach – Indians

• 1971 - Brian Bedford – The School for Wives as Arnolphe
  • John Gielgud – Home
  • Alec McCowen – The Philanthropist
  • Ralph Richardson – Home

• 1972 - Cliff Gorman – Lenny as Lenny Bruce
  • Tom Aldredge – Sticks and Bones
  • Donald Pleasence – Wise Child
  • Jason Robards – The Country Girl
  • Brad Smith- Bye Bye Birdie

• 1973 - Alan Bates – Butley as Ben Butley
  • Jack Albertson – The Sunshine Boys
  • Wilfrid Hyde-White – The Jockey Club Stakes
  • Paul Sorvino – That Championship Season

• 1974 - Michael Moriarty – Find Your Way Home as Julian Weston
  • Zero Mostel – Ulysses in Nighttown
  • Jason Robards – A Moon for the Misbegotten
  • George C. Scott – Uncle Vanya
  • Nicol Williamson – Uncle Vanya

• 1975 - John Kani and Winston Ntshona– Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island as various characters
  • Jim Dale – Scapino
  • Peter Firth – Equus as Alan Strang
  • Henry Fonda – Clarence Darrow
  • Ben Gazzara – Hughie and Duet
  • John Wood – Sherlock Holmes

• 1976 - John Wood – Travesties as Henry Carr
  • Moses Gunn – The Poison Tree
  • George C. Scott – Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman
  • Donald Sinden – Habeas Corpus

• 1977 - Al Pacino – The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel as Pavlo Hummel
  • Tom Courtenay – Otherwise Engaged
  • Ben Gazzara – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as George
  • Ralph Richardson – No Man's Land

• 1978 - Barnard Hughes – Da as Da
  • Hume Cronyn – The Gin Game
  • Frank Langella – Dracula as Dracula
  • Jason Robards – A Touch of the Poet

• 1979 - Tom Conti – Whose Life Is It Anyway? as Ken Harrison
  • Philip Anglim – The Elephant Man as John Merrick
  • Jack Lemmon – Tribute
  • Alec McCowen – St. Mark's Gospel

1980s

• 1980 - John Rubinstein – Children of a Lesser God as James Leeds
  • Charles Brown – Home
  • Gerald Hiken – Strider
  • Judd Hirsch – Talley's Folly

• 1981 - Ian McKellen – Amadeus as Antonio Salieri
  • Tim Curry – Amadeus as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Roy Dotrice – A Life
  • Jack Weston – The Floating Light Bulb

• 1982 - Roger Rees – The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as Nicholas Nickleby
  • Tom Courtenay – The Dresser as Norman
  • Milo O'Shea – Mass Appeal
  • Christopher Plummer – Othello

• 1983 - Harvey Fierstein – Torch Song Trilogy as Arnold Beckoff
  • Jeffrey DeMunn – K2
  • Edward Herrmann – Plenty
  • Tony Lo Bianco – A View from the Bridge

• 1984 - Jeremy Irons – The Real Thing as Henry
  • Calvin Levels – Open Admissions
  • Rex Harrison – Heartbreak House
  • Ian McKellen – Ian McKellen Acting Shakespeare

• 1985 - Derek Jacobi – Much Ado About Nothing as Benedick
  • Jim Dale – A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
  • Jonathan Hogan – As Is
  • John Lithgow – Requiem for a Heavyweight

• 1986 - Judd Hirsch – I'm Not Rappaport as Nat
  • Hume Cronyn – The Petition
  • Ed Harris – Precious Sons
  • Jack Lemmon – Long Day's Journey into Night

• 1987 - James Earl Jones – Fences as Troy Maxson
  • Philip Bosco – You Never Can Tell
  • Richard Kiley – All My Sons
  • Alan Rickman – Les Liaisons Dangereuses

• 1988 - Ron Silver – Speed-the-Plow as Charlie Fox
  • Derek Jacobi – Breaking the Code
  • John Lithgow – M. Butterfly
  • Robert Prosky – A Walk in the Woods

• 1989 - Philip Bosco – Lend Me a Tenor as Saunders
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov – Metamorphosis
  • Victor Garber – Lend Me a Tenor
  • Bill Irwin – Largely New York

1990s

• 1990 - Robert Morse – Tru as Truman Capote
  • Charles S. Dutton – The Piano Lesson as Boy Willie
  • Dustin Hoffman – The Merchant of Venice as Shylock
  • Tom Hulce – A Few Good Men as Lt. j.g. Daniel A. Kaffee

• 1991 - Nigel Hawthorne – Shadowlands as C.S. Lewis
  • Peter Frechette – Our Country's Good as 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark
  • Tom McGowan – La Bête as Valere
  • Courtney B. Vance – Six Degrees of Separation as Paul

• 1992 - Judd Hirsch – Conversations with My Father as Eddie
  • Alan Alda – Jake's Women as Jake
  • Alec Baldwin – A Streetcar Named Desire as Stanley Kowalski
  • Brian Bedford – Two Shakespearean Actors as William Charles Macready

• 1993 - Ron Leibman – Angels in America: Millennium Approaches as Roy Cohn, et al
  • K. Todd Freeman – The Song of Jacob Zulu as Jacob Zulu
  • Liam Neeson – Anna Christie as Mat Burke
  • Stephen Rea – Someone Who'll Watch Over Me as Edward

• 1994 - Stephen Spinella – Angels in America: Perestroika as Prior Walter
  • Brian Bedford – Timon of Athens as Timon
  • Christopher Plummer – No Man's Land as Spooner
  • Sam Waterston – Abe Lincoln in Illinois as Abraham Lincoln

• 1995 - Ralph Fiennes – Hamlet as Hamlet
  • Brian Bedford – The Molière Comedies as Sganarelle
  • Roger Rees – Indiscretions as George
  • Joe Sears – A Tuna Christmas as Various Characters

• 1996 - George Grizzard – A Delicate Balance as Tobias
  • Philip Bosco – Moon Over Buffalo as George Hay
  • George C. Scott – Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond
  • Martin Shaw – An Ideal Husband as Lord Goring

• 1997 - Christopher Plummer – Barrymore as John Barrymore
  • Brian Bedford – London Assurance as Sir Harcourt Courtly
  • Michael Gambon – Skylight as Tom Sergeant
  • Antony Sher – Stanley as Stanley

• 1998 - Anthony LaPaglia – A View from the Bridge as Eddie
  • Richard Briers – The Chairs as Old Man
  • John Leguizamo – Freak as Himself
  • Alfred Molina – 'Art' as Yvan

• 1999 - Brian Dennehy – Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman
  • Brian F. O'Byrne – The Lonesome West as Valene Connor
  • Corin Redgrave – Not About Nightingales as Bert "Boss" Whalen
  • Kevin Spacey – The Iceman Cometh as Theodore Hickman

2000s

• 2000 - Stephen Dillane – The Real Thing as Henry
  • Gabriel Byrne – A Moon for the Misbegotten as James Tyrone, Sr.
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman – True West as Austin (Alternated with Lee)
  • John C. Reilly – True West as Lee (Alternated with Austin)
  • David Suchet – Amadeus as Antonio Salieri

• 2001 - Richard Easton – The Invention of Love as A.E. Houseman, aged 77
  • Seán Campion – Stones in His Pockets as Jake Quinn
  • Conleth Hill – Stones in His Pockets as Charlie Conlon
  • Brian Stokes Mitchell – King Hedley II as King
  • Gary Sinise – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as Randle P. McMurphy

• 2002 - Alan Bates – Fortune's Fool as Vassily Semyonitch Kuzovkin
  • Billy Crudup – The Elephant Man as John Merrick
  • Liam Neeson – The Crucible as John Proctor
  • Alan Rickman – Private Lives as Elyot Chase
  • Jeffrey Wright – Topdog/Underdog as Lincoln

• 2003 - Brian Dennehy – Long Day's Journey into Night as James Tyrone Sr.
  • Brian Bedford – Tartuffe as Orgon
  • Eddie Izzard – A Day in the Death of Joe Egg as Bri
  • Paul Newman – Our Town as Stage Manager
  • Stanley Tucci – Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune as Johnny

• 2004 - Jefferson Mays – I Am My Own Wife as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, et al
  • Simon Russell Beale – Jumpers as George
  • Kevin Kline – Henry IV (a combination of Part 1 and Part 2) as Sir John Falstaff
  • Frank Langella – Match as Tobi
  • Christopher Plummer – King Lear as King Lear

• 2005 - Bill Irwin – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as George
  • Philip Bosco – Twelve Angry Men as Juror #3
  • Billy Crudup – The Pillowman as Katurian
  • James Earl Jones – On Golden Pond as Norman Thayer, Jr.
  • Brían F. O'Byrne – Doubt as Father Flynn

• 2006 - Richard Griffiths – The History Boys as Hector
  • Ralph Fiennes – Faith Healer as Frank
  • Željko Ivanek – The Caine Mutiny Court Martial as Lt. Com. Phillip Francis Queeg
  • Oliver Platt – Shining City as John
  • David Wilmot – The Lieutenant of Inishmore as Padraic

• 2007 - Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon
  • Boyd Gaines – Journey's End as Lieut. Osborne
  • Brían F. O'Byrne – The Coast of Utopia as Alexander Herzen
  • Christopher Plummer – Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummoond
  • Liev Schreiber – Talk Radio as Barry Champlain

• 2008 - Mark Rylance – Boeing Boeing as Robert
  • Ben Daniels – Les Liaisons Dangereuses as Le Vicomte de Valmont
  • Laurence Fishburne – Thurgood as Thurgood Marshall
  • Rufus Sewell – Rock 'n' Roll as Jan
  • Patrick Stewart – Macbeth as Macbeth

• 2009 - Geoffrey Rush – Exit the King as King Berenger
  • Jeff Daniels – God of Carnage as Alan
  • Raúl Esparza – Speed-the-Plow as Charlie Fox
  • James Gandolfini – God of Carnage as Michael
  • Thomas Sadoski – reasons to be pretty as Greg

2010s

• 2010 - Denzel Washington – Fences as Troy Maxson
  • Jude Law – Hamlet as Hamlet
  • Alfred Molina – Red as Mark Rothko
  • Liev Schreiber – A View from the Bridge as Eddie
  • Christopher Walken – A Behanding in Spokane as Carmichael

• 2011 - Mark Rylance in Jerusalem as Johnny "Rooster" Byron
  • Brian Bedford – The Importance of Being Earnest as Lady Bracknell
  • Bobby Cannavale – The Motherfucker with the Hat as Jackie
  • Joe Mantello – The Normal Heart as Ned Weeks
  • Al Pacino – The Merchant of Venice as Shylock

Award records

• Alan Bates (2)
• Brian Dennehy (2)
• José Ferrer (2)
• Judd Hirsch (2)
• James Earl Jones (2)
• Fredric March (2)
• Mark Rylance (2)

Trivia

• The lead role of George in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has earned the Tony Award for the two different actors who have performed the character:
  • 1963 – Arthur Hill
  • 2005 – Bill Irwin
• Other male roles have produced multiple Tony Award winners: Henry in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing
  • 1984 – Jeremy Irons
  • 2000 – Stephen Dillane
• James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night
  • 1957 - Fredric March
  • 2003 - Brian Dennehy
• Troy Maxson in August Wilson's Fences
  • 1987 - James Earl Jones
  • 2010 - Denzel Washington
• Additionally, Stephen Spinella won the award in 1994 for Angels in America: Perestroika a year after winning the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play for the same character in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.
• The youngest winner in this category is Harvey Fierstein (age 31). The oldest is Frank Langella (age 69).

External links

• Official Tony Awards website