From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress

Annual award for London's West End theatre

Summary

Annual award for London's West End theatre

Field	Value
name	Laurence Olivier Award
for Best Actress
awarded_for	Best Actress in a Play
presenter	Society of London Theatre
location
year	1985
holder	Lesley Manville for Oedipus (2025)
image	Leslie Manville (cropped).jpg
caption	2025 Recipient: Lesley Manville
website

for Best Actress

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in professional London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

This award was introduced in 1985, as Actress of the Year, then retitled to its current name for the 1993 ceremony. Prior to this award, from 1976 to 1984 (and again in 1988), there was a pair of awards given each year for this general category, one for Actress of the Year in a New Play and the other for Actress of the Year in a Revival.

Winners and nominees

[[Lindsay Duncan]] won this award twice in 1986 and 2002

[[Fiona Shaw]] won this award twice in 1989 and 1994

[[Janet McTeer]] won for ''[[A Doll's House]]'' (1997)

[[Julie Walters]] won for ''[[All My Sons]]'' (2001)

[[Kristin Scott Thomas]] won for ''[[The Seagull]]'' (2008)

[[Tamsin Greig]] won for ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' (2009)

[[Rachel Weisz]] won for ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (2010)

[[Ruth Wilson]] won for ''Anna Christie'' (2012)

[[Helen Mirren]] won for ''The Audience'' (2013)

[[Penelope Wilton]] won for ''Taken at Midnight'' (2015)

[[Laura Donnelly]] won for ''The Ferryman'' (2019)

[[Sharon D. Clarke]] won for ''Death of a Salesman'' (2020)

[[Sheila Atim]] won for ''Constellations'' (2022)

[[Jodie Comer]] won for ''Prima Facie'' (2023)

[[Sarah Snook]] won for ''The Portrait of Dorian Gray'' (2024)

1980s

Year	Actor	Play
Yvonne Bryceland	The Road to Mecca	Miss Helen
Wendy Morgan	Martine	Martine
Harriet Walter	The Castle	Skinner
Joanne Whalley	Saved	Pam
Lindsay Duncan	Les Liaisons Dangereuses	Marquise de Merteuil
Julia McKenzie	Woman in Mind	Susan
Juliet Stevenson	As You Like It, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Troilus and Cressida	Rosalind / Madame de Tourvel / Cressida
Irene Worth	The Bay at Nice	Valentina Nrovka
Judi Dench	Antony and Cleopatra	Cleopatra
Miranda Richardson	A Lie of the Mind	Beth
Maggie Smith	Lettice and Lovage and Coming in to Land	Lettice Douffet / Halina
Juliet Stevenson	Yerma	Yerma
Fiona Shaw	Electra, As You Like It and The Good Person of Szechwan	Electra / Celia / Shen Te
Sheila Hancock	Prin	Prin
Jane Lapotaire	Shadowlands	Joy
Prunella Scales	Single Spies	Elizabeth II

1990s

Year	Actor	Play
Kathryn Hunter	The Visit	Claire Zachanassian
Penny Downie	Scenes from a Marriage	Marianne
Barbara Jefford	Coriolanus	Volumnia
Josette Simon	After the Fall	Maggie
Juliet Stevenson	Death and the Maiden	Paulina
Janet McTeer	Uncle Vanya	Yelena
Patricia Routledge	Talking Heads	Miss Schofield
Fiona Shaw	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler Tesman
Alison Steadman	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Mari
Stockard Channing	Six Degrees of Separation	Ouisa Kittredge
Judi Dench	The Gift of the Gorgon	Helen
Jane Horrocks	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Little Voice
Fiona Shaw	Machinal	Young Woman
Kathryn Hunter	The Skriker	Skriker
Diana Rigg	Medea	Medea
Penelope Wilton	The Deep Blue Sea	Hester Collyer
Clare Higgins	Sweet Bird of Youth	Alexandra Del Lago
Frances de la Tour	Les Parents terribles	Leo
Sheila Gish	Les Parents terribles	Yvonne
Margot Leicester	Broken Glass	Sylvia Gellburg
Judi Dench	Absolute Hell	Christine Foskett
Diana Rigg	Mother Courage	Mother Courage
Zoë Wanamaker	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
Lia Williams	Skylight	Kyra Hollis
Janet McTeer	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
Eileen Atkins	John Gabriel Borkman	Mrs. Gunhild Borkman
Vanessa Redgrave	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim
Diana Rigg	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
Zoë Wanamaker	Electra	Electra
Judi Dench	Amy's View	Esme Allen
Sally Dexter	Closer	Anna
Maggie Smith	A Delicate Balance	Claire
Eileen Atkins	The Unexpected Man	Woman
Sinéad Cusack	Our Lady of Sligo	Mai O'Hara
Judi Dench	Filumena Marturano	Filumena
Nicole Kidman	The Blue Room	Various Characters
Diana Rigg	Britannicus and Phèdre	Agrippina / Phaedra

2000s

Year	Actor	Play
Janie Dee	Comic Potential	Jacie Triplethree
Jennifer Ehle	The Real Thing	Annie
Maggie Smith	The Lady in the Van	Miss Shepherd
Alison Steadman	The Memory of Water	Teresa
Julie Walters	All My Sons	Kate Keller
Jessica Lange	Long Day's Journey Into Night	Mary Tyrone
Helen Mirren	Orpheus Descending	Lady Torrance
Julia Ormond	My Zinc Bed	Elsa
Harriet Walter	Life x 3	Sonia
Lindsay Duncan	Private Lives	Amanda Prynne
Lindsay Duncan	Mouth to Mouth	Laura
Victoria Hamilton	A Day in the Death of Joe Egg	Sheila
Zoë Wanamaker	Boston Marriage	Anna
Clare Higgins	Vincent in Brixton	Ursula Loyer
Anita Dobson	Frozen	Nancy
Gwyneth Paltrow	Proof	Catherine
Emily Watson	Uncle Vanya	Sonya
Eileen Atkins	Honour	Honor
Helen Mirren	Mourning Becomes Electra	Christine Mannon
Ann Mitchell	Through the Leaves	Martha
Kelly Reilly	After Miss Julie	Miss Julie
Kristin Scott Thomas	Three Sisters	Masha
Clare Higgins	Hecuba	Hecuba
Victoria Hamilton	Suddenly, Last Summer	Catharine
Anna Maxwell Martin	His Dark Materials	Lyra
Caroline O'Connor	Bombshells	Performer
Eve Best	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler Tesman
Clare Higgins	Death of a Salesman	Linda Loman
Helen McCrory	As You Like It	Rosalind
Janet McTeer	Mary Stuart	Mary, Queen of Scots
Harriet Walter	Mary Stuart	Elizabeth I of England
Tamsin Greig	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice
Eve Best	A Moon for the Misbegotten	Josie
Sinéad Cusack	Rock 'n' Roll	Eleanor / Esme
Kathleen Turner	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
Kristin Scott Thomas	The Seagull	Arkadina
Anne-Marie Duff	Saint Joan	Joan of Arc
Kelly Reilly	Othello	Desdemona
Fiona Shaw	Happy Days	Winnie
Penelope Wilton	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim
Margaret Tyzack	The Chalk Garden	Mrs St. Maugham
Deanna Dunagan	August: Osage County	Violet Weston
Lindsay Duncan	That Face	Martha
Penelope Wilton	The Chalk Garden	Miss Madrigal

2010s

Year	Actor	Play
Rachel Weisz	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois
Gillian Anderson	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
Lorraine Burroughs	The Mountaintop	Camae
Imelda Staunton	Entertaining Mr Sloane	Kath
Juliet Stevenson	Duet for One	Stephanie Anderson
Nancy Carroll	After the Dance	Joan
Tracie Bennett	End of the Rainbow	Judy Garland
Tamsin Greig	The Little Dog Laughed	Diane
Sophie Thompson	Clybourne Park	Bev
Ruth Wilson	Anna Christie	Anna Christie
Celia Imrie	Noises Off	Dotty Otley
Lesley Manville	Grief	Dorothy
Kristin Scott Thomas	Betrayal	Emma
Marcia Warren	The Ladykillers	Mrs Wilberforce
Helen Mirren	The Audience	Queen Elizabeth II
Hattie Morahan	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
Billie Piper	The Effect	Connie
Kristin Scott Thomas	Old Times	Kate / Anna
Lesley Manville	Ghosts	Mrs. Helene Alving
Hayley Atwell	The Pride	Sylvia
Anna Chancellor	Private Lives	Amanda Prynne
Judi Dench	Peter and Alice	Alice Liddell
Penelope Wilton	Taken at Midnight	Irmgard Litten
Gillian Anderson	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois
Kristin Scott Thomas	Electra	Electra
Imelda Staunton	Good People	Margie Walsh
Denise Gough	People, Places and Things	Emma
Gemma Arterton	Nell Gwynn	Nell Gwynn
Nicole Kidman	Photograph 51	Rosalind Franklin
Janet McTeer	Les Liaisons dangereuses	Marquise de Merteuil
Lia Williams	Oresteia	Clytemnestra
Billie Piper	Yerma	Yerma
Glenda Jackson	King Lear	King Lear
Cherry Jones	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
Ruth Wilson	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler Tesman
Laura Donnelly	The Ferryman	Caitlin Carney
Lesley Manville	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Tyrone
Audra McDonald	Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill	Billie Holiday
Imelda Staunton	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
Patsy Ferran	Summer and Smoke	Alma Winemiller
Gillian Anderson	All About Eve	Margo Channing
Eileen Atkins	The Height of the Storm	Madeleine
Sophie Okonedo	Antony and Cleopatra	Cleopatra
Katherine Parkinson	Home, I'm Darling	Judy

2020s

Year	Actor	Play
Sharon D. Clarke	Death of a Salesman	Linda Loman
Hayley Atwell	Rosmersholm	Rebecca West
Juliet Stevenson	The Doctor	The Doctor
Phoebe Waller-Bridge	Fleabag	Fleabag
Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic
Sheila Atim	Constellations	Marianne
Lily Allen	2:22 A Ghost Story	Jenny
Emma Corrin	Anna X	Anna
Cush Jumbo	Hamlet	Hamlet
Jodie Comer	Prima Facie	Tessa
Patsy Ferran	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois
Mei Mac	My Neighbour Totoro	Mei
Janet McTeer	Phaedra (new version by Simon Stone)	Helen
Nicola Walker	The Corn Is Green	Miss Moffat
Sarah Snook	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Performer / Various
Laura Donnelly	The Hills of California	Veronica / Joan
Sophie Okonedo	Medea	Medea
Sarah Jessica Parker	Plaza Suite	Karen Nash / Muriel Tate / Norma Hubley
Sheridan Smith	Shirley Valentine	Shirley Valentine
Lesley Manville	*Oedipus*	Jocasta
Heather Agyepong	Shifters	Des
Rosie Sheehy	Machinal	Young Woman
Meera Syal	A Tupperware of Ashes	Queenie
Indira Varma	Oedipus	Jocasta

Multiple awards and nominations for Best Actress

Note: The below awards and nominations include individuals awarded and nominated under the now-defunct categories Actress of the Year in a New Play and Actress of the Year in a Revival as well as the current combined Best Actress category.

Awards

;Five awards

Judi Dench

;Three awards

Clare Higgins

;Two awards

Eileen Atkins
Lindsay Duncan
Lesley Manville
Fiona Shaw
Frances de la Tour
Dorothy Tutin
Margaret Tyzack
Zoë Wanamaker

Nominations

;Nine nominations

Judi Dench

;Six nominations

Eileen Atkins
Penelope Wilton

;Five nominations

Sinéad Cusack
Glenda Jackson
Janet McTeer
Kristin Scott Thomas
Juliet Stevenson
Maggie Smith
Zoë Wanamaker

;Four nominations

Lindsay Duncan
Clare Higgins
Helen Mirren
Diana Rigg
Fiona Shaw
Harriet Walter

;Three nominations

Gillian Anderson
Lesley Manville
Joan Plowright
Vanessa Redgrave
Imelda Staunton
Frances de la Tour

;Two nominations

Hayley Atwell
Eve Best
Yvonne Bryceland
Pauline Collins
Patsy Ferran
Susan Fleetwood
Tamsin Greig
Victoria Hamilton
Rosemary Harris
Kathryn Hunter
Nicole Kidman
Jane Lapotaire
Rosemary Leach
Geraldine McEwan
Sophie Okonedo
Billie Piper
Kelly Reilly
Alison Steadman
Janet Suzman
Dorothy Tutin
Margaret Tyzack
Julie Walters
Lia Williams
Ruth Wilson

References

Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP. (2020-03-23). "Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript]". www.gov.uk.
McPhee, Ryan. (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". [[Playbill]].
Thomas, Sophie. (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

laurence-olivier-awards theatre-acting-awards awards-for-actresses

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report