VIDEO: CAROUSEL's Lindsay Mendez Tearfully Accepts Tony Award Encouraging Others to be their True Selves

A darling of the Broadway community for years, on Sunday, Carousel's Lindsay Mendez won her first Tony Award. In her acceptance speech, she told a story about how she was encouraged to change her last name when she began her career. Clearly she didn't, and she closed her speech saying, "...be your true selves and the world will take note."

See Mendez's acceptance speech below!

Mendez's Broadway credits include Significant Other, Wicked, Godspell, Everyday Rapture, Grease. Off-Broadway/regional: The Golden Apple (City Center Encores!), Dogfight (Second Stage; Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival), 35mm, The Winter's Tale (Delacorte Theater).

In addition to appearing on the TV show "Smash," and releasing her debut album "This Time," her concert work includes appearances with Lincoln Center's American Songbook, the Library of Congress, Lyrics and Lyricists, and the American Pops Orchestra. In 2012, she co-founded Actor Therapy, a training and mentorship program for New York City artists, with composer Ryan Scott Oliver.