Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading 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 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.

It was first presented to Ingrid Bergman and Helen Hayes at the 1st Tony Awards for their portrayals of Mary Grey / Joan of Arc and Addie Bemis in Joan of Lorraine and Happy Birthday, respectively.

Characters nominated for both the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play boldface=Winner

Ingrid Bergman won for Joan of Lorraine (1947)
Helen Hayes won twice
Judith Anderson won the award for Medea (1948)
Shirley Booth won this award twice in 1950 and 1953
Audrey Hepburn won for Ondine (1954)
Julie Harris won a record breaking five times in this category
Anne Bancroft won for The Miracle Worker (1960)
Margaret Leighton won for Night of the Iguana (1962)
Sandy Dennis won for Ash Wednesday (1964)
Rosemary Harris won for The Lion in Winter (1965)
Maureen Stapleton won for The Gingerbread Lady (1971)
Colleen Dewhurst won for A Moon for the Misbegotten (1973)
Ellen Burstyn won for Same Time, Next Year (1975)
Jessica Tandy won twice in 1978 and 1981
Glenn Close won twice in 1984 and 1992
Stockard Channing won for A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1985)
Lily Tomlin won for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1986)
Joan Allen won for Burn This (1988)
Pauline Collins for Shirley Valentine (1989)
Maggie Smith won for Lettice and Lovage (1990)
Mercedes Ruehl won for Lost in Yonkers (1991)
Madeline Kahn won for The Sisters Rosenweig (1993)
Cherry Jones won twice for The Heiress (1995) and for Doubt (2005)
Janet McTeer won for A Doll's House (1997)
Judi Dench won for Amy's View (1999)
Jennifer Ehle won for The Real Thing (2000)
Mary-Louise Parker won twice for Proof (2001) and The Sound Inside (2020)
Lindsay Duncan won for Private Lives (2002)
Vanessa Redgrave won for Long Day's Journey into Night (2003)
Phylicia Rashad won for Raisin in the Sun (2004)
Marcia Gay Harden won for God of Carnage (2009)
Viola Davis won for Fences (2010)
Cicely Tyson , age 91, won for A Trip to Bountiful (2012)
Audra McDonald won for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (2014)
Helen Mirren won for The Audience (2015)
Jessica Lange won for Long Day's Journey into Night (2016)
Glenda Jackson won for Three Tall Women (2018)
Elaine May at the age 87 is the oldest winner in this category. She won for The Waverly Gallery (2019)
Jodie Comer won for Prima Facie (2023)
Sarah Paulson won for Appropriate (2024)