Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play

Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
Awarded for	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
Location	United States
Presented by	The Off-Broadway League[1][2]
Status	Retired
Currently held by	Edmund Donovan for Greater Clements (2020)
Website	lortelaward.com

The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play was an award presented annually at the Lucille Lortel Awards to honor an actor for excellence in a leading role in an Off-Broadway production. The categories were split into Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical in 2014.^[3] The acting categories were made gender-neutral in 2021.^[4]

Ron Rifkin is the only performer to have won the award twice, from two nominations. Several musical performers won or received nominations in this category before it was split. Musical winners include Boyd Gaines (2000 for Contact) and Joel Hatch (2008 for The Adding Machine), and nominees include Deven May (2001 for Bat Boy: The Musical), Norbert Leo Butz (2002 for The Last Five Years), Hunter Foster (also 2002 for Urinetown) and Josh Grisetti and Sahr Ngaujah (both 2009 for Enter Laughing The Musical and Fela! respectively).

Award winners

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

1990s

Year	Actress	Play	Role	Ref.
1992	Ron Rifkin	The Substance of Fire	Isaac Geldhart	[5]
1993	John Leguizamo	Spic-o-rama	Various
1994	Ron Rifkin	Three Hotels	Kenneth Hoyle
1995 (tie)	Linda Lavin	Death Defying Acts	Magician's Mother
	Eileen Atkins	Vita & Virginia	Virginia
1996	Jim Dale	Travels with My Aunt	Aunt Augusta
1997	David Morse	How I Learned to Drive	Uncle Peck
1998	Brian Cox	St. Nicholas	William
1999	Mark Ruffalo	This is Our Youth	Warren Straub

2000s

Year	Actress	Play	Role	Ref.
2000	Boyd Gaines	Contact	Performer	[6]
2001	Alan Bates	The Unexpected Man	The Man	[7]
	Glenn Fitzgerald	Lobby Hero	Jeff
	Deven May	Bat Boy: The Musical	Edgar, the Bat Boy
	Brian Murray	The Play About the Baby	Man
	Donald Sutherland	Ten Unknowns	Malcolm Ralpheson
2002	Reg Rogers	The Dazzle	Langley Collyer	[8]
	Norbert Leo Butz	The Last Five Years	Jamie
	Hunter Foster	Urinetown	Bobby Strong
	Peter Frechette	The Dazzle	Homer Collyer
	Jeffrey Wright	Topdog/Underdog	Lincoln
2003	Daniel Sunjata	Take Me Out	Darren Lemming	[9]
	Charles Busch	Shanghai Moon	Lady Sylvia Allington
	Jim Dale	Comedians	Eddie Waters
	Edward Norton	Burn This	Pale
	Jason Petty	Hank Williams: Lost Highway	Hank Williams
2004	Brían F. O'Byrne	Frozen	Ralph Wantage	[10][11]
	Lee Pace	Small Tragedy	Hakija
	Michael Shannon	Bug	Peter Evans
	Richard Thomas	The Stendhal Syndrome	Conductor
	Peter Frechette	Valhalla	King Ludwig of Bavaria
2005	John Rubinstein	Counsellor-At-Law	George Simon	[12][13]
	Larry Bryggman	Romance	The Judge
	Ethan Hawke	Hurlyburly	Eddie
	Brían F. O'Byrne	Doubt: A Parable	Father Brendan Flynn
	Jeffrey Wright	This Is How It Goes	Cody
2006 (tie)	David Wilmot	The Lieutenant of Inishmore	Padraic	[14]
	Christopher Denham	Red Light Winter	Matt
	Conor Donovan	Privilege	Charlie
	John Glover	The Paris Letter	Anton Kilgallen
	Michael Stuhlbarg	Measure for Pleasure	Will Blunt
2007	Peter Francis James	Stuff Happens	Colin Powell	[15][16]
	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Jack Goes Boating	Jack
	Russell Hornsby	King Hedley II	King
	Lee Pace	Guardians	English Boy
	Michael Stuhlbarg	The Voysey Inheritance	Edward Voysey
2008	Joel Hatch	Adding Machine	Mr. Zero	[17][18]
	Jeff Daniels	Blackbird	Ray
	André De Shields	Black Nativity	performer
	Dave Higgins	Exits and Entrances	André
	Jeremy Strong	New Jerusalem	Baruch de Spinoza
2009	John Douglas Thompson	Othello	Othello	[19][20]
	Josh Grisetti	Enter Laughing The Musical	David Kolowitz
	Brian d'Arcy James	Port Authority	Dermot
	Sahr Ngaujah	Fela!	Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
	Ned Eisenberg	Othello	Iago

2010s

Year	Actress	Play	Role	Ref.
2010	Michael Urie	The Temperamentals	Rudi Gernreich	[21]
	Patch Darragh	The Glass Menagerie	Tom Wingfield
	Brandon Victor Dixon	The Scottsboro Boys	Haywood Patterson
	John Douglas Thompson	The Emperor Jones	Brutus Jones
	Hugh Dancy	The Pride	Philip
2011	Christian Borle	Peter and the Starcatcher	Black Stache	[22][23]
	Desmin Borges	The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity	Macedonia Guerra
	André Braugher	The Whipping Man	Simon
	Michael Shannon	Mistakes Were Made	Felix Artifex
	Jeremy Strong	The Coward	Lucidus
2012	Santino Fontana	Sons of the Prophet	Joseph	[24][25]
	Russell Harvard	Tribes	Billy
	Hamish Linklater	The School for Lies	Frank
	Jefferson Mays	Blood and Gifts	Simon Craig
	Jay O. Sanders	Titus Andronicus	Titus Andronicus
2013	Shuler Hensley	The Whale	Charlie	[26][27]
	Danny Burstein	Talley's Folly	Matt Friedman
	Brandon J. Dirden	The Piano Lesson	Boy Willie
	Daniel Everidge	Falling	Josh
	Aasif Mandvi	Disgraced	Amir
2014	Steven Boyer	Hand to God	Jason / Tyrone	[28][29]
	Armando Riesco	The Happiest Song Plays Last	Elliot
	Taylor Mac	Good Person of Szechwan	Shen Tei
	Peter Friedman	The Open House	Father
	Jon DeVries	Regular Singing	Benjamin
2015	Stephen McKinley Henderson	Between Riverside and Crazy	Pops	[30][31]
	Carson Elrod	The Heir Apparent	Crispin
	Bill Pullman	Sticks and Bones	Ozzie
	Owiso Odera	Our Lady of Kibeho	Father Tuyishime
	Usman Ally	The Invisible Hand	Bashir
2016 [32]	Timothée Chalamet	Prodigal Son	Jim Quinn	[33][34]
	Denis Arndt	Heisenberg	Alex Priest
	Ed Harris	Buried Child	Dodge
	Andrew Garman	The Christians	Pastor
	Reed Birney	The Humans	Erik
2017	Joe Morton	Turn Me Loose	Dick Gregory	[35][36]
	Michael Emerson	Wakey, Wakey	Guy
	David Hyde Pierce	A Life	Nate Martin
	Lucas Hedges	Yen	Hench
	Reed Birney	Man from Nebraska	Ken Carpenter
2018	Sean Carvajal	Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train	Angel Cruz	[37][38]
	Peter Friedman	The Treasurer	The Son
	Michael Urie	Torch Song	Arnold Beckoff
	Namir Smallwood	Pipeline	Omari
	Chukwudi Iwuji	The Low Road	Blanke
2019	Juan Castano	Transfers	Cristofer Rodriguez	[39][40]
	Russell Harvard	I Was Most Alive With You	Knox
	Jon Michael Hill	Pass Over	Moses
	Tom Sturridge	Sea Wall / A Life	Alex
	Sahr Ngaujah	Mlima's Tale	Performer

2020s

Year	Actress	Play	Role	Ref.
2020	Edmund Donovan	Greater Clements	Joe	[41][42]
	Aaron Yoo	The Headlands	Henry
	Hamish Linklater	The Pain of My Belligerence	Guy
	Raúl Esparza	Seared	Harry
	Charles Busch	The Confession Of Lily Dare	Lily Dare

Multiple wins

2 wins

• Ron Rifkin

Multiple nominations

2 nominations

• Ron Rifkin
• Jim Dale
• Peter Frechette
• Jeffrey Wright
• Charles Busch
• Brían F. O'Byrne
• Lee Pace
• Michael Shannon
• Michael Stuhlbarg
• Jeremy Strong
• John Douglas Thompson
• Sahr Ngaujah
• Michael Urie
• Russell Harvard
• Hamish Linklater
• Peter Friedman
• Reed Birney

References

1. The League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers
2. The Off-Broadway League
3. Actoing Categories Split into Musicals and Plays
4. "Lucille Lortel Awards Will Switch to Gender-Neutral Categories for Performers". Playbill.
5. "1986–2000 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
6. "1986–2000 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
7. "2001 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
8. "2002 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
9. "2003 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
10. "2004 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
11. "Caroline, or Change, I Am My Own Wife, Bug Among 2004 Lucille Lortel Winners". Playbill. 4 May 2004. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
12. "2005 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
13. "2005 Lucille Lortel Award winners announced". New York Theatre Guide. 2 May 2005. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
14. "2006 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
15. "2007 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
16. Gans, Andrew (7 May 2007). "Spring Awakening, In the Heights and Stuff Happens Win Lucille Lortel Awards". Playbill. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
17. "2008 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
18. "Lucille Lortel Winners Announced". Variety. 5 May 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
19. "2009 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
20. "Ruined, Fela!, Our Town and Inishmaan Top Lucille Lortel Awards". Broadway.com. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
21. "2010 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
22. "2011 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
23. Jones, Kenneth (2 May 2011). "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Chad Deity, Angels, Christian Borle, Laurie Metcalf Are Lortel Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
24. "2012 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
25. Hetrick, Adam (6 May 2012). "Once, Sons of the Prophet, Sanaa Lathan, Sam Gold Among 2012 Lortel Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
26. "2013 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
27. Hetrick, Adam (5 May 2013). "Dogfight, The Whale and The Piano Lesson Are Lortel Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
28. "2014 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
29. Gans, Andrew (5 May 2014). "Fun Home, Here Lies Love, Buyer & Cellar Win Lortel Awards". Playbill. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
30. "2015 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
31. Moreau, Jordan (10 May 2015). "Lucille Lortel Awards 2015 (FULL LIST): 'Hamilton' Sweeps". Variety. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
32. First ceremony split into play/musical categories.
33. "2016 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
34. Moreau, Jordan (1 May 2016). "Lucille Lortel Awards 2016 (FULL LIST): 'Guards at the Taj,' 'The Robber Bridegroom' Score Big". Variety. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
35. "2017 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
36. McPhee, Ryan (8 May 2017). "Ben Platt, Taran Killam, Jasmine Cephas Jones, and More at the 2017 Lucille Lortel Awards". Playbill. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
37. "2018 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
38. McPhee, Ryan (6 May 2018). "KPOP, Cost of Living, School Girls Among 2018 Lucille Lortel Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
39. "2019 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
40. Peikert, Mark (5 May 2019). "Carmen Jones Leads 2019 Lortel Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
41. "2020 Recipients". Lucille Lortel Awards. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
42. Clement, Olivia (3 May 2020). "Octet and Heroes of the Fourth Turning Lead 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved 17 September 2025.