Sonia Friedman is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer, hailed as a Variety500 Honoree seven years in a row, as well as "the most powerful producer working in theater" by the New York Times in 2025. Friedman was also listed as one of Vogue’s 25 most influential women working today in 2025. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first person to win the award three times. In 2018, Friedman was featured in "TIME100", Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was named Broadway Briefing's Show Person of the Year. In 2019, Sonia Friedman Productions was ranked The Stage 's most influential theatre producer in The Stage 100. Sonia Friedman CBE was featured in The Standard 100, a celebratory feature of the key power players shaping London in 2024.. As of June 2026, Sonia Friedman Productions has developed, initiated and led over 300 productions. As lead producer, SFP have won a record-breaking 74 Laurence Olivier Awards, 62 Tony Awards and 381 major theatre awards worldwide.

Early life Friedman is the youngest of four children of Clair Llewelyn (née Sims), a concert pianist, and violinist Leonard Freedman (who later changed his name to Friedman), who was leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham and co-founder of many national institutions including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Baroque Ensemble. Her father was from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, and her mother is English. She is the younger sister of the actress and director Maria Friedman,"About Maria" aboutmaria.com (official site) the great violinist Richard Friedman, and Dr Sarah Beecham.

Career Theatre producer After working at the National Theatre between 1988 and 1993 (fulfilling the various roles of stage management, Education Manager, Head of Education and Producer of Mobile Productions and Theatre for Young People), she co-founded the new writing theatre company Out of Joint in 1993 with Max Stafford-Clark. From 1998, Friedman worked as a producer for the Ambassador Theatre Group. She launched her own theatre company, Sonia Friedman Productions, in 2002. As of June 2026, Sonia Friedman Productions has developed, initiated and led over 300 productions. As lead producer, SFP have won a record-breaking 74 Laurence Olivier Awards, 62 Tony Awards and 381 major theatre awards worldwide.

At the 2014 Olivier Awards, Sonia Friedman Productions made Olivier Awards history by winning the most awards for any producer and for winning prizes for Best New Play (Chimerica), Best New Musical (The Book of Mormon), Best Play Revival (Ghosts) and Best Musical Revival (Merrily We Roll Along). In 2017, Friedman won producer of the year at The Stage Awards for a third year (becoming the first person to win the award three times), and was listed as no. 1 on The Stage power list, the second solo female to hold this position in the award's history and becoming the first person to top the list that wasn't a theatre owner.

SFP productions and co-productions received an unprecedented 31 nominations in the 2017 Olivier Awards – including a record-breaking 11 for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the most nominated new play in Olivier history. The show went on to win 9 Olivier Awards – the most ever for one production.

In 2018, Friedman was awarded the Equity Services to Theatre Award at the 18th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, and was featured in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Honours Friedman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to theatre and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours, also for services to theatre.

Personal life She is the younger sister of director/actress/singer Maria Friedman, violinist Richard Friedman, and Sarah Beecham.

Theatre credits

Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1990) Tartuffe (1991) The Queen and I (1994) The Libertine (1995) Shopping and Fucking (1996) Blue Kettle / Heart's Desire (1997) The Steward of Christendom (1997) Three Sisters (1997) Spoonface Steinberg (1999) Speed the Plow (2000) Noises Off (2000) A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2001) Benefactors (2002) Up For Grabs (2002) Afterplay (2002) What the Night Is For (2002) Macbeth (2002) Ragtime (2003) A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2003), on Broadway Sexual Perversity in Chicago (2003) Absolutely! (Perhaps) (2003) Hitchcock Blonde (2003) See You Next Tuesday (2003) Jumpers (2003) Calico (2004) Endgame (2004) Guantánamo (2004) The Woman in White (2004) By the Bog of Cats (2005) Whose Life Is It Anyway? (2005) The Home Place (2005) As You Like It (2005) Shoot the Crow (2005) Celebration (2005) Otherwise Engaged (2005) The Woman in White (2005) on Broadway Donkeys' Years (2006) On the Third Day (2006) Eh Joe (2006) Bent (2006) Faith Healer (2006), on Broadway; nominated for a Best Revival Tony Award Love Song (2006) Rock 'n' Roll (2006) King of Hearts (2007) The Dumb Waiter (2007) Boeing-Boeing (2007) In Celebration (2007) Rock 'n' Roll (2007), on Broadway Is He Dead? (2007), on Broadway Donkeys' Years (2007) Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, a musical version of Tintin in Tibet (2007) Dealer's Choice (2007) Boeing-Boeing (2008), in Australia Boeing-Boeing (2008), on Broadway That Face (2008) Under the Blue Sky (2008) The Seagull (2008), on Broadway No Man's Land (2008) La Cage Aux Folles (2008) Maria Friedman: Re-Arranged (2008) Boeing-Boeing (2009), UK tour Dancing at Lughnasa (2009) A View from the Bridge (2009) A Little Night Music (2009) The Norman Conquests (2009), on Broadway The Mountaintop (2009) Arcadia (2009) Othello (2009) Prick Up Your Ears (2009) After Miss Julie (2009), on Broadway Legally Blonde (2009) A Little Night Music, on Broadway (2009) Jerusalem (2010) Private Lives (2010) The Prisoner of Second Avenue (2010) All My Sons (2010) A View from the Bridge (2010), on Broadway Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita (2010) La Bête (2010), and on Broadway A Flea in Her Ear (2010) La Cage aux Folles (2010) on Broadway The Children's Hour (2011) Clybourne Park (2011) Arcadia (2011), on Broadway Jerusalem (2011), on Broadway The Book of Mormon (2011), on Broadway Much Ado About Nothing (2011) Betrayal (2011) Top Girls (2011) La Cage Aux Folles (2011–12), US tour The Mountaintop (2011), on Broadway Jerusalem (2011–2012) Master Class (2012) Absent Friends (2012) Hay Fever (2012) Death of a Salesman (2012), on Broadway Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012–2013), on Broadway The Sunshine Boys (2012) A Chorus of Disapproval (2012–2013) Richard the Third (2012–2013) Twelfth Night (2012–2013) Old Times (2013) The Book of Mormon (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) Merrily We Roll Along (2013) Chimerica (2013) The Sunshine Boys (2013), Los Angeles Twelfth Night & Richard III (2013), on Broadway Mojo (2013) Ghosts (2013) 1984 (2013) Shakespeare in Love (2014) King Charles III (2014) Electra, Frank McGuinness translation (2014) Sunny Afternoon (2014) The River (2014), on Broadway The Nether (2014) Ghosts (2013), New York Bend It Like Beckham (2015) 1984 (2015) Hamlet (2015) Farinelli and the King (2015) King Charles III (2015), on Broadway A Christmas Carol (2015) Funny Girl (2016) 1984 (2016) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016, 2017, 2018) Sunny Afternoon UK Tour (2016) Nice Fish (2016) Dreamgirls (2016, 2017, 2018) The Glass Menagerie (2017) Travesties (2017) Funny Girl UK Tour (2017) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2017) The Ferryman (2017), at Royal Court Theatre Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (2017) The Ferryman (2017, 2018), at Gielgud Theatre Hamlet (2017), at Harold Pinter Theatre 1984 (2017), New York Ink (2017/2018), at Duke of York's Theatre Farinelli and the King (2017, 2018), in New York The Birthday Party (2018), at Harold Pinter Theatre Mean Girls (2018), in New York Travesties (2018), in New York Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2018) in New York Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2019) in Melbourne The Ferryman (2018), at Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York The Jungle (2018), at Playhouse Theatre Consent (2018), at the Harold Pinter Theatre The Inheritance (2018), at the Noel Coward Summer and Smoke (2018), at Duke of York's Theatre The Jungle (2018), at St. Ann's Warehouse, New York All About Eve (2019), at the Noel Coward Fiddler on the Roof (2019), at The Playhouse Theatre Rosmersholm (2019), at Duke of York's Theatre The Jungle (2019), at San Francisco's Curran Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2019) in San Francisco The Book of Mormon (2019-2020), UK & European tour The Inheritance (2019), at Ethel Barrymore Theater, New York Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2020) in Hamburg Uncle Vanya (2020), at Harold Pinter Theatre Leopoldstadt (2020), at Harold Pinter Theatre Dreamgirls UK Tour from 2021 The Comeback (2020), at Noël Coward Theatre Walden (2021), RE:EMERGE Season at Harold Pinter Theatre J'Ouvert (2021), RE:EMERGE Season at Harold Pinter Theatre Anna X (2021), RE:EMERGE Season at Harold Pinter Theatre The Shark Is Broken (2021), at The Ambassadors Theatre To Kill a Mockingbird (2022), at Gielgud Theatre Jerusalem (2022), at Apollo Theatre Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2022), in Toronto Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2023), in Tokyo, Japan Oklahoma! (2022), at the Young Vic Theatre The 47th (2022), at The Old Vic Mean Girls (2022), US Tour Jerusalem (2022), at the Apollo Theatre Funny Girl (2022), on Broadway Merrily We Roll Along (2022), at The New York Theatre Workshop Hamlet (2022), at Park Avenue Armory Oresteia (2022), at Park Avenue Armory Eureka Day (2022), at The Old Vic The Piano Lesson (2022), at St James Theatre Leopoldstadt (2022), at Longacre Theatre Funny Girl US tour (from 2023) Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (2023), at Wyndham's Theatre Patriots (2023), at Noël Coward Theatre New York, New York (2023), at St James Theatre The Secret Life of Bees (2023), at the Almeida Dr Semmelweis (2023), at Harold Pinter Theatre Merrily We Roll Along (2023), at Hudson Theatre The Shark Is Broken (2023), at John Golden Theatre Lyonesse (2023) at Harold Pinter Theatre Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a co-production with Netflix (2023), at Phoenix Theatre The Hills of California (2024), at Harold Pinter Theatre Mean Girls (2024), at Savoy Theatre Patriots (2024), at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway Stereophonic (2024), at John Golden Theatre Here There Are Blueberries (2024), at New York Theatre Workshop Fangirls (2024), at Lyric Hammersmith Shifters (2024), at Duke of York's Theatre The Hills of California (2024), at Broadhurst Theatre Oedipus (2024), at Wyndham's Theatre Juno and the Paycock (2024), at Gielgud Theatre Bust (2025), at Alliance Theatre and Goodman Theatre Millions (2025), at Alliance Theatre The Years (2025), at Harold Pinter Theatre The Shark is Broken (2025), UK and Ireland tour Manhunt (2025), at Royal Court Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2025), at Marquis Theatre Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (2025), at Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre Creditors (2025), at Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre Mrs. Warren's Profession (2025), at Garrick Theatre Stereophonic (2025), at Duke of York's Theatre Dead Outlaw (2025), at Longacre Theatre Sunny Afternoon (2025), UK tour The Importance of Being Earnest (2025), at Noël Coward Theatre Stereophonic (2025), US tour Oedipus (2025), Broadway Paddington The Musical (2025), at Savoy Theatre Mean Girls (2025/2026), UK & Ireland tour John Proctor is the Villain (2026), at Royal Court 1536 (2026), at Ambassadors Theatre Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (2026), at Audible's Minetta Lane Theater