2011 Tony Awards: Frances McDormand 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, 2011 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing's 65th Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards® were announced May 3, 2011 by Tony Award winning actor Matthew Broderick and Tony Award winning actress Anika Noni Rose.

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 2011 Tony Award winners, click here.

BroadwayWorld Congratulates
Frances McDormand
2011 Tony Award Winner
'Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play'

Frances McDormand ("Margaret" in Good People) Frances McDormand: NY theatre includes The Country Girl (Broadway; Drama Desk, Drama League nominations); Far Away (NYTW); Oedipus (CSC); The Sisters Rosensweig (Lincoln Center); The Swan (Public); A Streetcar Named Desire (Stella; Broadway, Tony nomination); Awake and Sing! (Broadway); and with the Wooster Group: To You, the Birdie! and North Atlantic. Regional: A Streetcar Named Desire (Blanche, Dublin's Gate Theatre); The Three Sisters (Olga, Yale Drama School; Irina, Guthrie Theater; Masha, McCarter Theatre); All My Sons; A Moon for the Misbegotten; Twelfth Night. Film includes Blood Simple, Short Cuts, Hidden Agenda, Lone Star, Paradise Road, Wonder Boys, Laurel Canyon, Friends With Money, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Burn After Reading. Academy Award for Fargo and three additional nominations for Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous and North Country. Active participant and board member of the 52nd Street Project, a theatrical/educational program for kids in Hell's Kitchen.

'Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play'
2011 Tony Award Nominees

Nina Arianda ("Billie Dawn" in Born Yesterday)
Nina Arianda is thrilled to join Born Yesterday in her Broadway debut. She recently completed work on Brett Ratner's upcoming film Tower Heist (Miss Iovenko). Her other film credits include Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (Carol), Tom McCarthy's Win Win (Shelly) and Vera Farmiga's Higher Ground (Wendy). Nina debuted Off-Broadway in David Ives' Venus in Fur (Vanda) last year. She was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award and was the recipient of the Actors' Equity Association Clarence Derwent Award, Theatre World Award and Clive Barnes Award for that role. She received her MFA from NYU's Tisch Graduate Acting Program. She thanks her incredibly supportive, loving and good-looking parents.

Lily Rabe ("Portia" in The Merchant of Venice)
Lily Rabe: Broadway: The American Plan, Heartbreak House (OCC Nom, Callaway Award), Steel Magnolias (Drama Desk Nom.). Off-Broadway/regional: Crimes of the Heart, Colder Than Here, Proof, The Crazy Girl. Film: All Good Things, Letters from the Big Man, Weakness, Aftermath, What Just Happened, The Toe Tactic, No Reservations, A Crime, Mona Lisa Smile, Never Again. TV: Last of the Ninth, Saving Grace, Nip/Tuck, Medium, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI.

Vanessa Redgrave ("Daisy Werthan" in Driving Miss Daisy)
Vanessa Redgrave's latest appearance on Broadway was a benefit performance for the Roundabout Theatre Company of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music as Madame Armfeldt, her daughter Natasha Richardson playing Desiree Armfeldt, with a magnificent cast on January 12, 2009. She was seen in Joan Didion's play The Year of Magical Thinking at the Booth Theatre, directed by Sir David Hare, and produced by Scott Rudin in 2007. This production transferred to the Royal National Theatre in London in 2008. Vanessa also appeared in New York in Tony Harrison's RSC production of Euripides' Hecuba in 2005; in Eugene O' Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night in 2003; as Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra at The Public Theater in 1996; in Vita and Virginia by and with Dame Eileen Atkins in 1995; and Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending in 1989, directed by Sir Peter Hall, transferred from London's Haymarket Theatre. Her most recent film was this summer's Letters to Juliet, directed by Gary Winick, with her husband Franco Nero. Her new season films are Miral, directed by Julian Schnabel; The Whistleblower with Rachel Weisz; Ralph Fiennes' film of Coriolanus; and Roland Emmerich's Anonymous. Her professional life's ambition was fulfilled when she produced and played in HBO Films' The Fever, written by Wallace Shawn and directed by Carlo Nero, with Angelina Jolie and Rade Serbedzija, televised by HBO in 2007. Vanessa feels very much honored to appear in Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy with James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines, directed by David Esbjornson, and produced by Jed Bernstein, Adam Zotovich and a number of superb Broadway producers.

Hannah Yelland ("Laura" in Brief Encounter)
Hannah Yelland: West End: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Kate Nickleby), Daisy Pulls It Off (Daisy). Other UK theatre: A Doll's House (Nora), Mrs. Warren's Profession (Vivie Warren), Bedroom Farce (Jan), The Linden Tree (Marion), French Without Tears (Jacqueline Maingot). Television: "Dalziel and Pascoe," "Bodies II," "Holby City," "Ahead of the Class," "Ultimate Force," "Doctors," "Heartbeat," "The Project," "Swallow," "Dinotopia," "Micawber," "Poirot," "The Secret," "A Touch of Frost." She now lives in DC with her husband, Michael.