The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was one of eight new acting awards first presented in 1975, when Drama Desk retired an earlier award that had made no distinction between work in plays and musicals, nor between actors and actresses, nor between lead performers and featured performers.
After the 2022 ceremony, all eight acting categories introduced in 1975 were retired. The award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, along with Outstanding Actress in a Play, were replaced in 2023 with the gender neutral category of Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play.
Winners and nominees Key
1970s Year Actor Play Character 1975 Anthony Hopkins Equus Dysart Roy Dotrice Brief Lives John Aubrey Peter Firth Equus Alan Strang Charles Grodin Same Time, Next Year George John Kani Sizwe Banzi Is Dead Styles / Buntu The Island John Alec McCowen The Misanthrope Alceste Richard Monette Hosanna Hosanna Tony Musante P.S. Your Cat Is Dead Vito Winston Ntshona The Island Winston Donald Sinden London Assurance Sir Harcourt Courtly 1976 John Wood Travesties Henry Carr Peter Evans Streamers Richie Ben Gazzara Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George Richard Kiley The Heiress Dr. Austin Sloper Frank Quinn Lamppost Reunion Mac Louis Zorich They Knew What They Wanted Tony 1977 Al Pacino The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel Pavlo Hummel Martin Balsam Cold Storage Joseph Parmigian Richard Chamberlain The Night of the Iguana Rev. Shannon Tom Courtenay Otherwise Engaged Simon Robert Duvall American Buffalo Walter Cole Fred Gwynne A Texas Trilogy Colonel J. C. Kinkaid John Heard G.R. Point Micah Jonathan Pryce Comedians Gethin Price 1978 Barnard Hughes Da Da Hume Cronyn The Gin Game Weller Martin Judd Hirsch Chapter Two George James Earl Jones Paul Robeson Paul Robeson Frank Langella Dracula Dracula Brian Murray Da Charlie Now 1979 Philip Anglim The Elephant Man John Merrick Tom Aldredge On Golden Pond Norman Thayer Jr. Richard Chamberlain Fathers and Sons Wild Bill Hickok Tom Conti Whose Life is It Anyway? Ken Harrison Donal Donnelly Faith Healer Frank Hardy Jack Lemmon Tribute Scottie Templeton
1980s Year Actor Play Character 1980 John Rubinstein Children of a Lesser God James Leeds F. Murray Abraham Teibele and Her Demon Alchonon Philip Bosco Major Barbara Andrew Undershaft Charles Brown Home Cephus Miles Gerald Hiken Strider Strider Judd Hirsch Talley's Folly Matt Friedman 1981 Ian McKellen Amadeus Antonio Salieri Tim Curry Amadeus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart John Heard The Chekhov Sketchbook Various Characters Derek Jacobi The Suicide Semyon Semyonovich Podsekalnikov Milo O'Shea Mass Appeal Tim Farley Remak Ramsay The Winslow Boy Sir Robert Morton 1982 Christopher Plummer Othello Iago Bob Gunton How I Got That Story The Historical Event Zakes Mokae "Master Harold"...and the Boys Sam Paul Rogers The Dresser Sir Robert Stattel King Lear Edgar 1983 Harvey Fierstein Torch Song Trilogy Arnold Beckoff Matthew Broderick Torch Song Trilogy David Jeff Daniels Johnny Got His Gun Joe Bonham John Malkovich True West Lee Remak Ramsay Quartermaine's Terms St. John Quartermaine John Rubinstein The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial Barney Greenwald James Russo Extremities Raul 1984 Dustin Hoffman Death of a Salesman Willy Loman Rex Harrison Heartbreak House Captain Shotover Jeremy Irons The Real Thing Henry David McCallum The Philanthropist Philip Donald Moffat Play Memory Cam MacMillan Al Pacino American Buffalo Walter Cole 1985 John Lithgow Requiem for a Heavyweight Harlan "Mountain" McClintock Jim Dale A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Bri Anthony Heald Digby Digby Merton The Foreigner Charlie Jonathan Hogan As Is Rich Derek Jacobi Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac Much Ado About Nothing Benedick Patrick McGoohan Pack of Lies Stewart Jonathan Pryce Accidental Death of an Anarchist The Fool 1986 Ed Harris Precious Sons Fred Jeff Daniels Lemon Sky Alan Kevin Kline Hamlet Prince Hamlet Jack Lemmon Long Day's Journey into Night James Tyrone, Sr. John Mahoney The House of Blue Leaves Artie Shaughnessy Roshan Seth A Map of the World Victor Mehta 1987 James Earl Jones Fences Troy Maxson Don Bloomfield Lily Dale Horace Robedaux Morgan Freeman Driving Miss Daisy Hoke Coleburn Victor Garber You Never Can Tell Dr. Valentine Ian McKellen Wild Honey Mikhail Platonov Alan Rickman Les Liaisons Dangereuses Le Vicomte de Valmont 1988 Ron Silver Speed-the-Plow Charlie Fox Derek Jacobi Breaking the Code Alan Turing Delroy Lindo Joe Turner's Come and Gone Herald Loomis John Lithgow M. Butterfly Rene Gallimard John Malkovich Burn This Pale Joe Mantegna Speed-the-Plow Gould 1989 Philip Bosco Lend Me a Tenor Saunders Mikhail Baryshnikov Metamorphosis Gregor Samsa Niall Buggy Aristocrats Casimir Peter Friedman The Heidi Chronicles Scoop John Kavanagh Juno and the Paycock Joxer Daly Stephen McHattie Ghetto Kittel Paul Provenza Only Kidding! Jerry Goldstein
1990s Year Actor Play Character 1990 Nathan Lane The Lisbon Traviata Mendy Alec Baldwin Prelude to a Kiss Peter Hoskins Charles S. Dutton The Piano Lesson Boy Willie Gary Sinise The Grapes of Wrath Tom Joad Colin Stinton Some Americans Abroad Joe Taylor 1991 Ron Rifkin The Substance of Fire Isaac Geldhart Kevin Kline Hamlet Prince Hamlet Tom McGowan La Bête Valere Sab Shimono The Wash Sadao 1992 Brian Bedford Two Shakespearean Actors William Charles Macready F. Murray Abraham A Life in the Theatre Robert Dennis Boutsikaris Sight Unseen Jonathan James McDaniel Before it Hits Home Wendall Brian Murray A Small Family Business Jack McCracken 1993 Ron Leibman Angels in America Roy Cohn, et al. John Cameron Mitchell The Destiny of Me Alexander Denis O'Hare Hauptmann Richard Hauptmann Everett Quinton Brother Truckers Lyla Balskin Ron Rifkin Three Hotels Kenneth Hoyle 1994 Brian Bedford Timon of Athens Timon Stacy Keach The Kentucky Cycle Various Characters Christopher Plummer No Man's Land Spooner Stephen Spinella Angels in America: Perestroika Prior Walter Sam Waterston Abe Lincoln in Illinois Abraham Lincoln 1995 Ralph Fiennes Hamlet Prince Hamlet Tom Aldredge Incommunicado Ezra Pound Philip Bosco The Heiress Dr. Austin Sloper Philip Goodwin Henry VI Henry VI of England Ron Leibman The Merchant of Venice Shylock Roger Rees Indiscretions George 1996 Frank Langella The Father The Captain Gerry Bamman Nixon's Nixon Richard M. Nixon George Grizzard A Delicate Balance Tobias Mark Nelson Picasso at the Lapin Agile Albert Einstein Rocco Sisto Quills The Marquis Patrick Stewart The Tempest Prospero 1997 David Morse How I Learned to Drive Uncle Peck Christopher Plummer Barrymore John Barrymore Michael Gambon Skylight Tom Sergeant Frank Langella Present Laughter Garry Daniel Massey Taking Sides Wilhelm Furtwängler Donal McCann The Steward of Christendom Thomas Dunne 1998 Anthony LaPaglia A View from the Bridge Eddie Carbone Jason Bowcutt Never the Sinner Nathan Leopold Richard Briers The Chairs Old Man Brian Cox St. Nicholas Performer John Slattery Three Days of Rain Walker Eli Wallach Visiting Mr. Green Mr. Green 1999 Brian Dennehy Death of a Salesman Willy Loman Scott Glenn Killer Joe Killer Joe Cooper Finbar Lynch Not About Nightingales Canary Jim Corin Redgrave Not About Nightingales Bert "Boss" Whalen Toby Stephens Ring Round the Moon Hugo / Frederick Patrick Stewart The Ride Down Mt. Morgan Lyman Felt
2000s Year Actor Play Character 2000 Stephen Dillane The Real Thing Henry Gabriel Byrne A Moon for the Misbegotten James Tyrone, Jr. Kevin Chamberlin Dirty Blonde Charlie Philip Seymour Hoffman True West Austin (Alternated with Lee) Derek Jacobi Uncle Vanya Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky Paul Sparks Coyote on a Fence Robert Alvin "Bobby" Reyburn 2001 Richard Easton The Invention of Love A.E. Housman Alan Bates The Unexpected Man The Man Ralph Fiennes Richard II Richard II of England Brian Stokes Mitchell King Hedley II King John Ortiz Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train Angel Cruz Liev Schreiber Betrayal Jerry 2002 Alan Bates Fortune's Fool Vassily Semyonitch Kuzovkin Liam Neeson The Crucible John Proctor Bill Pullman The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Martin Gray Alan Rickman Private Lives Elyot Chase Dallas Roberts Nocturne The Son Jeffrey Wright Topdog/Underdog Lincoln 2003 Eddie Izzard A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Bri Simon Russell Beale Uncle Vanya Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky Norbert Leo Butz Buicks Bill Jim Dale Comedians Eddie Waters Brian Dennehy Long Day's Journey into Night James Tyrone, Sr. Daniel Sunjata Take Me Out Darren Lemming 2004 Kevin Kline Henry IV Sir John Falstaff John Michael Higgins Big Bill Bill Tilden Frank Langella Match Tobi Brían F. O'Byrne Frozen Ralph Christopher Plummer King Lear King Lear Paul Sparks Blackbird Baylis 2005 Brían F. O'Byrne Doubt Father Flynn Adam Arkin Brooklyn Boy Eric Weiss John Cullum Sin (A Cardinal Deposed) Cardinal Bernard Law Bill Irwin Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George Jeremy Piven Fat Pig Tom John Turturro Souls of Naples Pasquale 2006 Richard Griffiths The History Boys Hector Vince Gatton Candy & Dorothy Candy John Glover The Paris Letter Anton Kilgallen Željko Ivanek The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial Lt. Com. Phillip Francis Queeg Nathan Lane Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams Lou Nuncle Brían F. O'Byrne Shining City Ian 2007 Frank Langella Frost/Nixon Richard Nixon Brían F. O'Byrne The Coast of Utopia: Voyage Alexander Herzen Christopher Plummer Inherit the Wind Henry Drummond Philip Seymour Hoffman Jack Goes Boating Jack Liev Schreiber Talk Radio Barry Champlain Kevin Spacey A Moon for the Misbegotten James Tyrone, Jr. Paul Sparks Essential Self-Defense Yul Carroll 2008 Mark Rylance Boeing-Boeing Robert Bill Champion Intimate Exchanges Toby Kevin Kline Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac Bill Pullman Peter & Jerry Peter Tobias Segal From Up Here Kenny Barrett Rufus Sewell Rock 'n' Roll Jan 2009 Geoffrey Rush Exit the King King Berenger Simon Russell Beale The Winter's Tale Leontes Reed Birney Blasted Ian Raúl Esparza Speed-the-Plow Charlie Fox Bill Irwin Waiting for Godot Lucky Daniel Radcliffe Equus Alan Strang Thomas Sadoski reasons to be pretty Greg
2010s