The Tony Award for Best Featured 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 supporting 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."
The award was originally called the Tony Award for Actress, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic). Patricia Neal won the first such award for her portrayal of Regina Hubbard in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. Before 1956, nominees' names were not made public: the change was made by the awards committee to "have a greater impact on theatregoers". The award was renamed in 1976, when Shirley Knight became the first winner under the new title for her role as Carla in Robert Patrick's Kennedy's Children. Its most recent recipient is Laurie Metcalf, for the role of Linda Loman, in Death of a Salesman.
Eight actresses (Christine Baranski, Judith Ivey, Judith Light, Swoosie Kurtz, Audra McDonald, Laurie Metcalf, Frances Sternhagen, and Kara Young) hold the record for most awards in this category, each with two total. Portrayals of Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun, Mavis Parodus Bryson in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman have won twice.
Winners and nominees
1940s Year Actor Project Role(s) 1947 (1st) Patricia Neal Another Part of the Forest Regina Hubbard 1949 (3rd) Shirley Booth Goodbye, My Fancy Grace Woods
1950s Year Actor Project Role(s) 1951 Maureen Stapleton The Rose Tattoo Serafina Delle Rose 1952 Marian Winters I Am a Camera Natalia Landauer 1953 Beatrice Straight The Crucible Elizabeth Proctor 1954 Jo Van Fleet The Trip to Bountiful Jessie Mae Watts 1955 Patricia Jessel Witness for the Prosecution Romaine 1956 Una Merkel The Ponder Heart Edna Earle Ponder Diane Cilento Tiger at the Gates Helen of Troy Anne Jackson Middle of the Night The Daughter Elaine Stritch Bus Stop Grace Hoylard 1957 Peggy Cass Auntie Mame Agnes Gooch Anna Massey The Reluctant Debutante Jane Broadbent Beryl Measor Separate Tables Pat Cooper Mildred Natwick The Waltz of the Toreadors Mme. St. Pé Phyllis Neilson-Terry Separate Tables Mrs. Railton-Bell Diana Van der Vlis The Happiest Millionaire Cordelia Biddle 1958 Anne Bancroft Two for the Seesaw Gittel Mosca Brenda De Banzie The Entertainer Phoebe Rice Joan Blondell The Rope Dancers Mrs. Farrow Mary Fickett Sunrise at Campobello Eleanor Roosevelt Eileen Heckart The Dark at the Top of the Stairs Lottie Lacey 1959 Julie Newmar The Marriage-Go-Round Katrin Sveg Maureen Delany God and Kate Murphy Carrie Donovan Dolores Hart The Pleasure of His Company Jessica Poole Nan Martin J.B. Sarah Bertice Reading Requiem for a Nun Nancy Mannigoe
1960s Year Actor Project Role(s) 1960 Anne Revere Toys in the Attic Anna Berniers Leora Dana The Best Man DeeDee Grogan Jane Fonda There Was a Little Girl Toni Newton Sarah Marshall Goodbye Charlie Rusty Mayerling Juliet Mills Five Finger Exercise Pamela Harrington 1961 Colleen Dewhurst All the Way Home Mary Follet Eileen Heckart Invitation to a March DeeDee Grogan Tresa Hughes The Devil's Advocate Nina Sanduzzi Rosemary Murphy Period of Adjustment Dorothea Bates 1962 Elizabeth Ashley Take Her, She's Mine Mollie Michaelson Zohra Lampert Look: We've Come Through Jennifer Lewison Janet Margolin Daughter of Silence Anna Albertini Pat Stanley Sunday in New York Eileen Taylor 1963 Sandy Dennis A Thousand Clowns Sandra Markowitz Melinda Dillon Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Honey Alice Ghostley The Beauty Part Various Characters Zohra Lampert Mother Courage and Her Children Kattrin 1964 Barbara Loden After the Fall Maggie Rosemary Murphy Any Wednesday Dorothea Cleves Kate Reid Dylan Caitlin Thomas Diana Sands Blues for Mister Charlie Juanita 1965 Alice Ghostley The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window Mavis Parodus Bryson Rae Allen Traveller Without Luggage Juliette Alexandra Berlin All in Good Time Violet Fitton Carolan Daniels Slow Dance on the Killing Ground Rosie 1966 Zoe Caldwell Slapstick Tragedy Polly Glenda Jackson Marat/Sade Charlotte Corday Mairin D. O'Sullivan Philadelphia, Here I Come! Madge Mulhern Brenda Vaccaro Cactus Flower Toni Simmons 1967 Marian Seldes A Delicate Balance Julia Camila Ashland Black Comedy Miss Furnival Brenda Forbes The Loves of Cass McGuire Trilbe Costello Maria Tucci The Rose Tattoo Rose Dell Rose 1968 Zena Walker A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Sheila Pert Kelton Spofford Mrs. Punck Ruth White The Birthday Party Meg Eleanor D. "Siddy" Wilson The Weekend Mrs. Andrews 1969 Jane Alexander The Great White Hope Eleanor Bachman Diane Keaton Play It Again, Sam Linda Christie Lauren Jones Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? Linda Anna Manahan Lovers Hanna Wilson
1970s Year Actor Project Role(s) 1970 Blythe Danner Butterflies Are Free Jill Tanner Alice Drummond The Chinese and Dr. Fish Mrs. Lee Eileen Heckart Butterflies Are Free Mrs. Baker Linda Lavin Last of the Red Hot Lovers Elaine Navazio 1971 Rae Allen And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little Fleur Stein Lili Darvas Les Blancs Madame Neilsen Joan Van Ark The School for Wives Agnes Mona Washbourne Home Marian 1972 Elizabeth Wilson Sticks and Bones Harriet Cara Duff-MacCormick Moonchildren Shelly Mercedes McCambridge The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks Lucy Lake Frances Sternhagen The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window Mavis Parodus Bryson 1973 Leora Dana The Last of Mrs. Lincoln Elizabeth Edwards Maya Angelou Look Away Elizabeth Keckley Katherine Helmond The Great God Brown Margaret Penelope Windust Elizabeth I Elizabeth I 1974 Frances Sternhagen The Good Doctor Various Characters Regina Baff Veronica's Room Susan Fionnula Flanagan Ulysses in Nighttown Various Characters Charlotte Moore Chemin de Fer Sophie Roxie Roker The River Niger Mattie Williams 1975 Rita Moreno The Ritz Googie Gomez Linda Miller Black Picture Show Jane Geraldine Page Absurd Person Singular Marion Carole Shelley Jane Elizabeth Spriggs London Assurance Lady Gay Spanker Frances Sternhagen Equus Dora Strang 1976 Shirley Knight Kennedy's Children Carla Mary Beth Hurt Trelawny of the 'Wells' Rose Trewlawny Lois Nettleton They Knew What They Wanted Amy Meryl Streep 27 Wagons Full of Cotton Flora Meighan 1977 Trazana Beverley For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf Lady in Red Patricia Elliott The Shadow Box Beverly Rose Gregorio Agnes Mary McCarty Anna Christie Marthy Owen 1978 Ann Wedgeworth Chapter Two Faye Medwick Starletta DuPois The Mighty Gents Rita Swoosie Kurtz Tartuffe Mariane Marian Seldes Deathtrap Myra Bruhl 1979 Joan Hickson Bedroom Farce Delia Laurie Kennedy Man and Superman Violet Robinson Susan Littler Bedroom Farce Kate Mary-Joan Negro Wings Amy
1980s Year Actor Project Role(s) 1980 Dinah Manoff I Ought to Be in Pictures Libby Tucker Maureen Anderman The Lady from Dubuque Carol Pamela Burrell Strider Various Characters Lois de Banzie Morning's at Seven Myrtle Brown 1981 Swoosie Kurtz Fifth of July Gwen Landis Maureen Stapleton The Little Foxes Birdie Hubbard Jessica Tandy Rose Rose's Mother Zoë Wanamaker Piaf Tione 1982 Amanda Plummer Agnes of God Agnes Judith Anderson Medea The Nurse Mia Dillon Crimes of the Heart Babe MaGrath Botrelle Mary Beth Hurt Meg MaGrath 1983 Judith Ivey Steaming Josie Elizabeth Franz Brighton Beach Memoirs Kate Jerome Roxanne Hart Passion Kate Margaret Tyzack All's Well That Ends Well Countess of Rossillion 1984 Christine Baranski The Real Thing Charlotte Jo Henderson Play Memory Ruth MacMillan Dana Ivey Heartbreak House Lady Utterword Deborah Rush Noises Off Brooke Ashton 1985 Judith Ivey Hurlyburly Bonnie Joanna Gleason A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Pam Theresa Merritt Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Ma Rainey Sigourney Weaver Hurlyburly Darlene 1986 Swoosie Kurtz The House of Blue Leaves Bananas Shaughnessy Stockard Channing The House of Blue Leaves Bunny Flingus Bethel Leslie Long Day's Journey into Night Mary Tyrone Zoë Wanamaker Loot Fay 1987 Mary Alice Fences Rose Maxson Annette Bening Coastal Disturbances Holly Dancer Phyllis Newman Broadway Bound Blanche Morton Carole Shelley Stepping Out Maxine 1988 L. Scott Caldwell Joe Turner's Come and Gone Bertha Holly Kimberleigh Aarn Joe Turner's Come and Gone Mattie Cambell Kate Nelligan Serious Money Various Characters Kimberly Scott Joe Turner's Come and Gone Molly Cunningham 1989 Christine Baranski Rumors Chris Gorman Joanne Camp The Heidi Chronicles Various Characters Tovah Feldshuh Lend Me a Tenor Maria Merelli Penelope Ann Miller Our Town Emily Webb
1990s Year Actor Project Role(s) 1990 Margaret Tyzack Lettice and Lovage Lotte Schoen Polly Holliday Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Big Mama Pollitt S. Epatha Merkerson The Piano Lesson Berniece Lois Smith The Grapes of Wrath Ma Joad 1991 Irene Worth Lost in Yonkers Grandma Kurnitz Amelia Campbell Our Country's Good Various Characters Kathryn Erbe The Speed of Darkness Mary J. Smith-Cameron Our Country's Good Various Characters 1992 Brid Brennan Dancing at Lughnasa Agnes Rosaleen Linehan Dancing at Lughnasa Kate Mundy Cynthia Martells Two Trains Running Risa Dearbhla Molloy Dancing at Lughnasa Maggie Mundy 1993 Debra Monk Redwood Curtain Geneva Kathleen Chalfant Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Hannah Pitt, et al. Marcia Gay Harden Harper Pitt, et al. Anne Meara Anna Christie Marthy Owen 1994 Jane Adams An Inspector Calls Sheila Birling Debra Monk Picnic Rosemary Sydney Jeanne Paulson The Kentucky Cycle Various Characters Anne Pitoniak Picnic Helen Potts 1995 Frances Sternhagen The Heiress Lavinia Penniman Suzanne Bertish The Molière Comedies Lisette Cynthia Nixon Indiscretions Madeleine Ozeray Mercedes Ruehl The Shadow Box Beverly 1996 Audra McDonald Master Class Sharon Graham Viola Davis Seven Guitars Vera Michele Shay Louise Lois Smith Buried Child Hallie 1997 Lynne Thigpen An American Daughter Dr. Judith B. Kaufman Helen Carey London Assurance Lady Gay Spanker Dana Ivey The Last Night of Ballyhoo Boo Levy Celia Weston Reba Freitag 1998 Anna Manahan The Beauty Queen of Leenane Mags Folan Enid Graham Honour Sophie Linda Lavin The Diary of Anne Frank Petronella van Daan Julyana Soelistyo Golden Child Eng Ahn 1999 Elizabeth Franz Death of a Salesman Linda Loman Claire Bloom Electra Clytemnestra Samantha Bond Amy's View Amy Thomas Dawn Bradfield The Lonesome West Girleen Kelleher
2000s