2009 Tony Award Nominees: 'Best Performance By A Leading Actress In A Play'

Hope Davis ("Annette" in God of Carnage)
Hope Davis appeared in Ivanov and Two Shakespearean Actors, both for Lincoln Center Theater. Her off-Broadway credits include Spinning Into Butter (LCT), Nicky Silver's plays Pterodactyls and The Food Chain; The Iceman Cometh (Goodman Theater) and Speed-the-Plow (Remains Theater). She played "Hope" in Charlie Kaufman's play Hope Leaves the Theater opposite Meryl Streep and she played Helena to Marcia Gay Harden's Hermia in Midsummer Night's Dream with the New York Philharmonic. Her extensive film credits include The Daytrippers; Next Stop, Wonderland; Arlington Road; Mumford; About Schmidt; Duma; The Weather Man; Proof; The Hoax; The Matador; Infamous; Charlie Bartlett; The Secret Lives of Dentists; Synecdoche, NY; and American Splendor, for which she received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe nomination. She will next be seen in the upcoming season of HBO's "In Treatment" and in the upcoming Michael Winterbottom film Genoa.

Jane Fonda ("Dr. Katherine Brandt" in 33 Variations)
Work on stage and screen has earned her numerous nominations and awards, including Oscars (Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home) and an Emmy for her performance in "The Dollmaker." Her credits include Monster-in-Law, Georgia Rule, Coming Home, The China Syndrome, Julia, Barefoot in the Park, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, "The Dollmaker" and four Broadway plays including Invitation to a March and There Was a Little Girl (Theatre World Award). In May 2005, Random House published Fonda's memoirs, My Life So Far. She has long been known for activism and advocacy on environmental issues, human rights and the empowerment of women and girls.

Marcia Gay Harden ("Veronica" in God of Carnage)
Marcia Gay Harden made her Broadway debut in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, for which she received a Tony Award® nomination, and a Drama Desk and Theatre World Award. She performed in Sam Shepard's Sympatico at the Public with Ed Harris, and in David Rabe's Those the River Keeps with Anthony LaPaglia. In Central Park, she played Masha in The Seagull directed by Mike Nichols, sharing the stage with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Natalie Portman. She received an Academy Award® for her performance in Pollock and an Academy Award® nomination for Mystic River. Her numerous film roles include The Spitfire Grill; Miller's Crossing; The First Wives Club; Mona Lisa Smile; Used People; The Hoax; Meet Joe Black; Into the Wild; Casa de los Babys; Space Cowboys, and The Mist. Her TV credits include "Damages" and "Law and Order: SVU," for which she received an Emmy® nomination. She earned her Bachelor's from the University of Texas and her Master's from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Janet McTeer ("Mary Stuart" in Mary Stuart)
McTeer's theatre work includes Duchess of Malfi, Uncle Vanya (NT); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Worlds Apart, The Storm, As You Like It (RSC); Taming of the Shrew (Globe), A Doll's House (London, New York, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World and Olivier Awards); Simpatico, The Grace of Mary, Greenland (Royal Court); Much Ado About Nothing, and God of Carnage (West End) . Her breakthrough film appearance was as Mary Jo in Tumbleweeds (Golden Globe Award, Oscar nomination). Other film credits include Songcatcher, Waking the Dead, The King Is Alive, The Intended, Carrington, Terry Gilliam's Tideland, and Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It. Her TV appearances include "The Governor," "Yellowbacks," "Miss Julie," "Miss Marple," "Precious Bane," "Portrait of a Marriage," "Five Days," "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard," "Sense and Sensibility," "Hunter", and "Into the Storm".

Harriet Walter ("Elizabeth" in Mary Stuart)
Harriet's extensive work for theatre includes: For the NT: Dinner, Life x 3, Children's Hour, Arcadia; for the RSC: The Hollow Crown, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, A Question of Geography, Cymbeline, Three Sisters. Other theatre credits include The Royal Family (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Ivanov, The Possessed (Almeida), Old Times (Wyndhams Theatre), Three Birds Alighting on a Field, The Seagull, Hamlet (Royal Court), and The Castle (Barbican). Her film credits include The Young Victoria, Cheri, From Time to Time, Atonement, Babel, Chromophobia, Bright Young Things, Villa Des Roses, Onegin, Bedrooms & Hallways, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, The Governess, The Leading Man, Sense & Sensibility, The Hour of the Pig, Milou en Mai, The Good Father, Turtle Diary, and Reflections. Recent TV appearances include "Little Dorrit," "The Palace," "Ballet Shoes," "Five Days," "Messiah," "Spooks"/"MI-5" and "Midsomer Murders".