Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

This is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.

Awards and nomination

1940s

;1947:- Patricia Neal – "Another Part of the Forest";1949:- Shirley Booth – "Goodbye, My Fancy"

1950s

;1951:- Maureen Stapleton – "The Rose Tattoo";1952:- Marian Winters – "I Am a Camera";1953:- Beatrice Straight – "The Crucible";1954:- Jo Van Fleet – "The Trip to Bountiful";1955:- Patricia Jessel – "Witness for the Prosecution"

;1956:- Una Merkel – "The Ponder Heart"
* Diane Cilento – "Tiger at the Gates"
* Anne Jackson – "Middle of the Night"
* Elaine Stritch – "Bus Stop"

;1957:- Peggy Cass – "Auntie Mame"
* Anna Massey – "The Reluctant Debutante"
* Beryl Measor – "Separate Tables"
* Mildred Natwick – "The Waltz of the Toreadors"
* Phyllis Neilson-Terry – "Separate Tables"
* Diana Van Der Vlis – "The Happiest Millionaire"

;1958:- Anne Bancroft – "Two for the Seesaw"
* Brenda De Banzie – "The Entertainer"
* Joan Blondell – "The Rope Dancers"
* Mary Fickett – "Sunrise at Campobello"
* Eileen Heckart – "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs"

;1959:- Julie Newmar – "The Marriage-Go-Round"
* Maureen Delany – "God and Kate Murphy"
* Dolores Hart – "The Pleasure of His Company"
* Nan Martin – "J.B."
* Bertrice Reading – "Requiem for a Nun"

1960s

;1960:- Anne Revere – "Toys in the Attic"
* Leora Dana – "The Best Man"
* Jane Fonda – "There Was a Little Girl"
* Sarah Marshall – "Goodbye Charlie"
* Juliet Mills – "Five Finger Exercise"

;1961:- Colleen Dewhurst – "All the Way Home"
* Eileen Heckart – "Invitation to a March"
* Tresa Hughes – "The Devil's Advocate"
* Rosemary Murphy – "Period of Adjustment"

;1962:- Elizabeth Ashley – "Take Her, She's Mine"
* Zohra Lampert – ""
* Janet Margolin – "Daughter of Silence"
* Pat Stanely – "Sunday in New York"

;1963:- Sandy Dennis – "A Thousand Clowns"
* Melinda Dillon – "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
* Alice Ghostley – "The Beauty Part"
* Zohra Lampert – "Mother Courage and Her Children"

;1964:- Barbara Loden – "After the Fall"
* Rosemary Murphy – "Any Wednesday"
* Kate Reid – "Dylan"
* Diana Sands – "Blues for Mister Charlie"

;1965:- Alice Ghostley – "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window"
* Rae Allen – "Traveller Without Luggage"
* Alexandra Berlin – "All in Good Time"
* Carolan Daniels – "Slow Dance on the Killing Ground"

;1966:- Zoe Caldwell – "Slapstick Tragedy"
* Glenda Jackson – "Marat/Sade"
* Mairin D. O'Sullivan – "Philadelphia, Here I Come!"
* Brenda Vaccaro – "Cactus Flower"

;1967:- Marian Seldes – "A Delicate Balance"
* Camila Ashland – "Black Comedy"
* Brenda Forbes – "The Loves of Cass McGuire"
* Maria Tucci – "The Rose Tattoo"

;1968:- Zena Walker – "Joe Egg"
* Pert Kelton – "Spofford"
* Ruth White – "The Birthday Party"
* Eleanor Wilson – "Week End"

;1969:- Jane Alexander – "The Great White Hope"
* Diane Keaton – "Play It Again Sam"
* Lauren Jones – "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?"
* Anna Manahan – "Lovers"

1970s

;1970:- Blythe Danner – "Butterflies Are Free"
* Alice Drummond – "The Chinese and Dr. Fish"
* Eileen Heckart – "Butterflies Are Free"
* Linda Lavin – "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers"

;1971:- Rae Allen – "And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little"
* Lili Darvas – "Les Blancs"
* Joan Van Ark – "The School for Wives"
* Mona Washbourne – "Home"

;1972:- Elizabeth Wilson – "Sticks and Bones"
* Cara Duff-MacCormick – "Moonchildren"
* Mercedes McCambridge – "The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks"
* Frances Sternhagen – "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window - Revival"

;1973:- Leora Dana – "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln"
* Maya Angelou – "Look Away"
* Katherine Helmond – "The Great God Brown"
* Penelope Windust – "Elizabeth I"

;1974:- Frances Sternhagen – "The Good Doctor"
* Regina Baff – "Veronica's Room"
* Fionnula Flanagan – "Ulysses in Nighttown"
* Charlotte Moore – "Chemin de Fer"
* Roxie Roker – "The River Niger"

;1975:- Rita Moreno – "The Ritz"
* Linda Miller – "Black Picture Show"
* Geraldine Page – "Absurd Person Singular"
* Carole Shelley – "Absurd Person Singular"
* Elizabeth Spriggs – "London Assurance"
* Frances Sternhagen – "Equus"

;1976:- Shirley Knight – "Kennedy's Children"
* Mary Beth Hurt – "Trelawny of the 'Wells'"
* Lois Nettleton – "They Knew What They Wanted"
* Meryl Streep – "27 Wagons Full of Cotton"/"A Memory of Two Mondays"

;1977:- Trazana Beverley – "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf"
* Patricia Elliott – "The Shadow Box"
* Rose Gregorio – "The Shadow Box"
* Mary McCarty – "Anna Christie"

;1978:- Ann Wedgeworth – "Chapter Two"
* Starletta DuPois – "The Mighty Gents"
* Swoosie Kurtz – "Tartuffe"
* Marian Seldes – "Deathtrap"

;1979:- Joan Hickson – "Bedroom Farce"
* Laurie Kennedy – "Man and Superman"
* Susan Littler – "Bedroom Farce"
* Mary-Joan Negro – "Wings"

1980s

;1980:- Dinah Manoff – "I Ought to be in Pictures"
* Maureen Anderman – "The Lady from Dubuque"
* Pamela Burrell – "Strider"
* Lois de Banzie – "Morning's at Seven"

;1981:- Swoosie Kurtz – "Fifth of July"
* Maureen Stapleton – "The Little Foxes"
* Jessica Tandy – "Rose"
* Zoë Wanamaker – "Piaf"

;1982:- Amanda Plummer – "Agnes of God"
* Judith Anderson – "Medea"
* Mia Dillon – "Crimes of the Heart"
* Mary Beth Hurt – "Crimes of the Heart"

;1983:- Judith Ivey – "Steaming"
* Elizabeth Franz – "Brighton Beach Memoirs"
* Roxanne Hart – "Passion"
* Margaret Tyzack – "All's Well That Ends Well"

;1984:- Christine Baranski – "The Real Thing"
* Jo Henderson – "Play Memory"
* Dana Ivey – "Heartbreak House"
* Deborah Rush – "Noises Off"

;1985:- Judith Ivey – "Hurlyburly"
* Joanna Gleason – "Joe Egg"
* Theresa Merritt – "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
* Sigourney Weaver – "Hurlyburly"

;1986:- Swoosie Kurtz – "The House of Blue Leaves"
* Stockard Channing – "The House of Blue Leaves"
* Bethel Leslie – "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
* Zoë Wanamaker – "Loot"

;1987:- Mary Alice – "Fences"
* Annette Bening – "Coastal Disturbances"
* Phyllis Newman – "Broadway Bound"
* Carole Shelley – "Stepping Out"

;1988:- L. Scott Caldwell – "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"
* Kimberleigh Aarn – "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"
* Kate Nelligan – "Serious Money"
* Kimberly Scott – "Joe Turner's Come and Gone"

;1989:- Christine Baranski – "Rumors"
* Joanne Camp – "The Heidi Chronicles"
* Tovah Feldshuh – "Lend Me a Tenor"
* Penelope Ann Miller – "Our Town"

1990s

;1990:- Margaret Tyzack – "Lettice and Lovage"
* Polly Holliday – "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
* S. Epatha Merkerson – "The Piano Lesson"
* Lois Smith – "The Grapes of Wrath"

;1991:- Irene Worth – "Lost in Yonkers"
* Amelia Campbell – "Our Country's Good"
* Kathryn Erbe – "The Speed of Darkness"
* J. Smith-Cameron – "Our Country's Good"

;1992:- Brid Brennan – "Dancing at Lughnasa"
* Rosaleen Linehan – "Dancing at Lughnasa"
* Cynthia Martells – "Two Trains Running"
* Dearbhla Molloy – "Dancing at Lughnasa"

;1993:- Debra Monk – "Redwood Curtain"
* Kathleen Chalfant – ""
* Marcia Gay Harden – "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches"
* Anne Meara – "Anna Christie"

;1994:- Jane Adams – "An Inspector Calls"
* Debra Monk – "Picnic"
* Jeanne Paulsen – "The Kentucky Cycle"
* Anne Pitoniak – "Picnic"

;1995:- Frances Sternhagen – "The Heiress"
* Suzanne Bertish – "The Molière Comedies"
* Cynthia Nixon – "Indiscretions"
* Mercedes Ruehl – "The Shadow Box"

;1996:- Audra McDonald – "Master Class"
* Viola Davis – "Seven Guitars"
* Michele Shay – "Seven Guitars"
* Lois Smith – "Buried Child"

;1997:- Lynne Thigpen – "An American Daughter"
* Helen Carey – "London Assurance"
* Dana Ivey – "The Last Night of Ballyhoo"
* Celia Weston – "The Last Night of Ballyhoo"

;1998:- Anna Manahan – "The Beauty Queen of Leenane"
* Enid Graham – "Honour"
* Linda Lavin – "The Diary of Anne Frank"
* Julyana Soelistyo – "Golden Child"

;1999:- Elizabeth Franz – "Death of a Salesman"
* Claire Bloom – "Electra"
* Samantha Bond – "Amy's View"
* Dawn Bradfield – "The Lonesome West"

2000s

;2000:- Blair Brown – "Copenhagen"
* Frances Conroy – "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan"
* Amy Ryan – "Uncle Vanya"
* Helen Stenborg – "Waiting in the Wings"
* Sarah Woodward – "The Real Thing"

;2001:- Viola Davis – "King Hedley II"
* Johanna Day – "Proof"
* Penny Fuller – "Neil Simon's The Dinner Party"
* Marthe Keller – "Judgment at Nuremberg"
* Michele Lee – "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife"

;2002:- Katie Finneran – "Noises Off"
* Kate Burton – "The Elephant Man"
* Elizabeth Franz – "Morning's at Seven"
* Estelle Parsons – "Morning's at Seven"
* Frances Sternhagen – "Morning's at Seven"

;2003:- Michele Pawk – "Hollywood Arms"
* Christine Ebersole – "Dinner at Eight"
* Linda Emond – "Life (x) 3"
* Kathryn Meisle – "Tartuffe"
* Marian Seldes – "Dinner at Eight"

;2004:- Audra McDonald – "A Raisin in the Sun"
* Essie Davis – "Jumpers"
* Sanaa Lathan – "A Raisin in the Sun"
* Margo Martindale – "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
* Daphne Rubin-Vega – "Anna in the Tropics"

;2005:- Adriane Lenox – "Doubt"
* Mireille Enos – "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
* Heather Goldenhersh – "Doubt"
* Dana Ivey – "The Rivals"
* Amy Ryan – "A Streetcar Named Desire"

;2006:- Frances de la Tour – "The History Boys"
* Tyne Daly – "Rabbit Hole"
* Jayne Houdyshell – "Well"
* Alison Pill – "The Lieutenant of Inishmore"
* Zoë Wanamaker – "Awake and Sing!"

;2007:- Jennifer Ehle – "The Coast of Utopia"
* Xanthe Elbrick – "Coram Boy"
* Dana Ivey – "Butley"
* Jan Maxwell – "Coram Boy"
* Martha Plimpton – "The Coast of Utopia"

;2008:- Rondi Reed – ""
* Sinead Cusack – "Rock 'n' Roll"
* Mary McCormack – "Boeing Boeing"
* Laurie Metcalf – "November"
* Martha Plimpton – "Top Girls"

Award records

;Wins
* Christine Baranski (2)
* Judith Ivey (2)
* Swoosie Kurtz (2)
* Audra McDonald (2)
* Frances Sternhagen (2)

;Nominations
* Frances Sternhagen (5)
* Dana Ivey (4)
* Elizabeth Franz (3)
* Eileen Heckhart (3)
* Swoosie Kurtz (3)
* Marian Seldes (3)
* Zoë Wanamaker (3)
* Christine Baranski (2)

* Leora Dana (2)
* Viola Davis (2)
* Rae Allen (2)
* Alice Ghostley (2)
* Mary Beth Hurt (2)
* Judith Ivey (2)
* Zohra Lampert (2)
* Linda Lavin (2)
* Anna Manahan (2)

* Audra McDonald (2)
* Debra Monk (2)
* Rosemary Murphy (2)
* Martha Plimpton (2)
* Amy Ryan (2)
* Carole Shelley (2)
* Lois Smith (2)
* Maureen Stapleton (2)
* Margaret Tyzack (2)