2010 Tony Awards: Viola Davis Wins 'Best Leading Actress in a Play'

The American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony"® Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13, 2010 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony"® Awards were announced on May 4, 2010 by Broadway Star Lea Michele and Tony Award Nominee Jeff Daniels.

The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards are bestowed annually on theatre professionals for distinguished achievement. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry and the annual telecast is considered one of the most prestigious programs on television.

To view the complete list of 2010 Tony Award winners, click here.

BroadwayWorld Congratulates
Viola Davis
2010 Tony Award Winner
'Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play'

Viola Davis ("Rose" in Fences) Viola Davis won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance in August Wilson’s King Hedley II. She was nominated for an Academy Award™, Golden Globe, SAG and Critics Choice Award and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance for Doubt. Broadway: August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (Tony, Drama Desk nominations; Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World Awards). Roundabout: Intimate Apparel (Drama Desk, Drama League, Obie, AUDELCO Awards). Public: Everybody’s Ruby (Obie, Drama Desk Award; Outer Critics Circle nomination for Featured Actress), Pericles, As You Like It. Off-Broadway: God’s Heart (LCT). Regional: ACT, Sundance Theatre Institute, Trinity Rep, Goodman, Guthrie, Huntington theatres. Film: Law Abiding Citizen, State of Play, Nights in Rodanthe, Disturbia, The Architect, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Out of Sight, Solaris, Traffic and Antwone Fisher (Independent Spirit Award nomination). Upcoming films include: Eat, Pray, Love; Trust; Knight and Day; It’s Kind of a Funny Story. TV: “The United States of Tara,” “Stone Cold,” “The Andromeda Strain,” “Traveler,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Without a Trace,” “Amy and Isabelle,” “Life is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story,” “Century City” and “City of Angels.” Viola presently lives in Los Angeles with her husband Julius Tennon.

'Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play'
2010 Tony Award Nominees

Valerie Harper ("Tallulah Bankhead" in Looped)
Broadway: The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife by Charles Busch,  Paul Sill’s Story Theatre and Metamorphoses, Carl Reiner’s Something Different, Subways Are For Sleeping, Wildcat, Take Me Along, Lil Abner.  National Tours: The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Golda’s Balcony by William Gibson (2006 winner Touring Broadway Award). Off Broadway: Death Defying Acts by Elaine May/Woody Allen, All Under Heaven. Regional Theatre: Looped (Pasadena Playhouse, West Palm Beach, D.C.’s Arena Stage), All Under Heaven, The Dragon and the Pearl, Sills and Company, Agnes of God, Dear Liar, Lunch Time and Halloween,  Story Theatre, Second City, Come Blow Your Horn. Television: As Rhoda Morgenstern (“Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Rhoda”) she received world wide acclaim earning four Emmys, a Golden Globe, Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, a Golden Apple Award. She starred in three other series “The Office” (CBS), “City” (CBS), “Valerie” (The Hogan Family) (NBC) and in twenty TV movies. Guest starring roles include “Sex and the City,” “’Til Death,” “Committed,” “Less Than Perfect,” “Family Law,” “Three Sisters,” “That 70’s Show,” “Touched By An Angel,” “Promised Land,” “Melrose Place,” “Missing Persons,” “The Love Boat,” “Carol Burnett show,”  “Columbo,” “Love American Style.” Film:  Golda’s Balcony, Blame It on Rio, Chapter Two, Freebie and the Bean, Last Married Couple in America. Valarie works with The Hunger Project and RESULTS for the sustainable end of world hunger. She’s married to producer Tony Cacciotti and they have a wonderful daughter Cristina.

Linda Lavin ("Ruth Steiner" in Collected Stories)
MTC/Broadway: The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Tony nomination). Broadway: The New Century; The Sisters Rosensweig; The Diary of Anne Frank (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award); Gypsy; Broadway Bound (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Helen Hayes awards); The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Tony nomination); Cop Out; Story Theatre; Something Different; It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman; A Family Affair; Hollywood Arms. Off-Broadway: Cakewalk; Death Defying Acts (Obie); The Comedy of Errors (Public); The Mad Show; Oh, Kay! Regional: Finishing the Picture, Collected Stories, Doubt. Film: The Muppets Take Manhattan, See You in the Morning, I Want to Go Home, The Backup Plan (upcoming). TV: “Alice,” “Barney Miller,” “Room for Two,” “Conrad Bloom,” “The Sopranos,” “The O.C.,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” TV Films: “The $5.20 an Hour Dream,” “A Matter of Life and Death,” “A Place to Call Home,” “Lena: My 100 Children,” “Best Friends for Life,” “The Ring,” “Collected Stories,” “Another Woman’s Child,” “The Sunset Gang” (producer). TV Specials: “Flour Babies” (producer/director), “Linda in Wonderland” (2 Emmy Awards). Cabaret: Songs and Confessions of a One-Time Waitress. National appearances include Birdland, The Metropolitan Room, Wilmington Symphony, NC. She and her husband Steve Bakunas are the Creative Directors of the Red Barn Studio Theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina www.redbarnstudiotheatre.com.

Laura Linney ("Sarah Goodwin" in Time Stands Still)
Theatre: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (RTC); Sight Unseen (MTC, Tony nom.); The Crucible (Tony nom.); Uncle Vanya, Hedda Gabler (Roundabout); Honour; Holiday; The Seagull; Beggars in the House of Plenty; Six Degrees of Separation. Television: “John Adams” (SAG, Golden Globe, Emmy Awards); “Frasier” (Emmy Award); “Wild Iris” (Emmy Awards); “Tales of the City,” “More Tales of the City,” “Further Tales of the City”; “The Laramie Project.” Film: The Savages, Kinsey and You Can Count on Me (Oscar noms.); The Other Man; City of Your Final Destination; The Squid and the Whale; Jindabyne; Love Actually; Mystic River; The Nanny Diaries; Breach; Man of the Year; The Hottest State; Driving Lessons; The Exorcism of Emily Rose; P.S.; The Life of David Gale; The Mothman Prophecies; Maze; The House of Mirth; The Truman Show; Absolute Power; Primal Fear; Congo; Lorenzo’s Oil; Dave. Upcoming: Sympathy for Delicious, Morning, The Details. Training: Juilliard. Member of AEA and SAG.

Jan Maxwell ("Julie Cavendish" in The Royal Family)
Jan Maxwell has previously been seen at MTC in To Be or Not To Be and Alan Ayckbourn's House and Garden. Broadway: Coram Boy (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), Sixteen Wounded (Drama Desk and Outer Critics nominations), A Doll's House (Outer Critics nomination), Sound Of Music, The Dinner Party, Dancing At Lughnasa, City of Angels. Off-Broadway: Scenes From An Execution  (Drama Desk nomination), Substitution, Entertaining Mr. Sloane (Drama Desk nomination), The Bald Soprano (Atlantic Theatre), Opening Doors (Carnegie Hall), Jules Feiffer's A Bad Friend (Lincoln Center), Israel Horowitz’s My Old Lady  (Lucille Lortel Award, Drama Desk nomination). Ms. Maxwell plays the role of Headmistress Queller on television’s “Gossip Girl,” has guest starred numerous times on “Law & Order” (NBC), and was a part of the PBS’ special “AIDS: Changing the Rule.”