Tony Awards 2025 winners: Succession’s Sarah Snook kicks off the night as she scores Best Actress award for her Broadway debut

The show, hosted by Cynthia Erivo, celebrated Broadway’s brightest talents in singing, acting, dancing and more.

Sarah Snook, 37, kicked off the show, winning the Best Leading Actress in a Play award. Snook delivered an unbelievable performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray, playing all 26 characters, including Dorian and Lord Henry.

The Succession star made her Broadway debut in the ambitious stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel, directed and written by Kipp Williams. 

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter presented her with the award.

Meanwhile George Clooney lost out the Best Actor in a Play award to Cole Escola, 38, who won for his performance in Oh, Mary! which he wrote and stars in. 

Snook beat out a strong lineup of nominees including Laura Donnelly for The Hills of California, acting legend Mia Farrow for The Roommate, LaTanya Richardson Jackson for Purpose, and Stranger Things star Sadie Sink for John Proctor Is the Villain. 

She noted that the Tony Awards audience is an ‘intimidating room of incredibly talented people.’ 

She went on: ‘Thank you so much for this. This means so much for a little Australian girl to be here on Broadway.’

‘Thank you to my incredible team… and just everybody on stage. [The Picture of Dorian Gray] is billed as a one person show, and I don’t feel alone any night that I do this show.’

‘There are so many people on the stage making it work and so many people behind the stage making it work.’

She also thanked her husband Dave Lawson: ‘And an exceptional thank you, the biggest thank you I can ever give to my husband, my soulmate, you are so brilliant holding family together and looking after the phones.’

The Picture of Dorian Gray follows a handsome young man whose painted portrait grotesquely ages with each of his sins, while he remains eternally youthful. 

Aside from Clooney, who was nominated for Good Night, And Good Luck, Escola beat out Jon Michael Hill for Purpose, Daniel Dae Kim, for Yellow Face, Harry Lennix for Purpose, and Louis McCartney for Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Set in the weeks before Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the 80-minute one-act dark comedy Oh, Mary! shares a glimpse into the suffocated life of Mary Todd Lincoln.

A thrilled Escola told the crowd: ‘Julie Harris has a Tony for playing Mary Todd Lincoln!’

He went on to acknowledge his fellow nominees, including George: ‘I want to thank the other nominees. George and Jon and Harry and Daniel and Louis. It’s an honor to be in your company.’

He then joked, ‘More than that, it’s been a sincere pleasure spending time with you over these warm salads at all these luncheons.’

The star then quipped: ‘I have to thank – oh, first of all, hi, mom. I love you. I’ll call you when I can.’

He then jokingly thanked ‘Tebow from Grindr’, the dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals.

Darren Criss won his first Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in Maybe Happy Ending, written by Will Aronson and Hue Park.

The play — which explores themes of love, loneliness, and mortality — follows two ‘Helperbots’, robots designed to assist people, named Oliver and Claire 

He beat out Andrew Durand for Dead Outlaw, Tom Francis for Sunset Boulevard, Jonathan Groff for Just in Time, Jeremy Jordan for Floyd Collins, and James Monroe Iglehart for A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical.

In his acceptance speech, Criss gave a shout out to Helen J. Shen. 

Francis Jue, 61, won the best featured actor in a play for his performance in Yellow Face. 

Katie Holmes and Danielle Brooks presented him with the award. 

He beat out Glenn Davis for Purpose, Gabriel Ebert for John Proctor Is the Villain, Bob Odenkirk for Glengarry Glen Ross, and Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary! 

He gave a passionate speech, telling the crowd: ‘For those who don’t feel seen, for those being targeted in these authoritarian times, I see you. At its best, this community sees you. And I hope that encourages you to be brave and to dream and to dream big.’

He began his speech saying: ’20 years ago, wonderful actor, singer Alvin Ing gave me this tux. He had it made for himself for the opening of “Pacific overtures” on Broadway in 1976.’

‘When he gave it to me he told me he wanted me to wear it when I accepted my Tony award. I am only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful Asian artists who came before me, and never got the opportunities that I have had.’

‘It can be difficult in challenging times to be brave, so I would like to thank Scott Ellis and roundabout theater for daring to do a play called “Yellow face” in an election season. Thank you to David Henry Hwang for giving me and so many others a voice.’

Hwang’s Yellow Face is a semi-autobiographical satirical comedy that explores the complexities of race and identity.

English actor Jak Malone, 30, nabbed the win for best featured actor in a musical, for his Broadway debut in Operation Mincemeat.

He beat out Brooks Ashmanskas for Smash, Jeb Brown for Dead Outlaw, Danny Burstein for Gypsy, and Taylor Trensch for Floyd Collins.

In an impassioned speech, Malone told the audience about his portrayal of a woman in the play: ‘Eight times a week I walk out on that stage and tell the audience I’m a woman. I’m not one. I only convey it through simple adjustment to posture, voice, and energy, but night after night the audience is believe in Hester.’

‘If you watched our show and found yourself believing in Hester, I’m so glad to tell you that intentionally or otherwise you might have just bid farewell to cynicism, outdated ideas of that rotten old binary and open yourself up to a world that’s already out there in glorious technicolor and isn’t going away anytime soon.’

He received the award from Adam Lambert and Charli D’Amelio. 

Operation Mincemeat is a fast-paced musical comedy dramatizing the true 1943 Allied deception: tricking the Nazis into believing they’d invade Greece instead of Sicily. 

Kara Young won best featured actress in a play for her performance in Purpose.

She triumphed over Tala Ashe for English, Jessica Hecht for Eureka Day, Marjan Neshat for English, and Fina Strazza for John Proctor Is the Villain.

Purpose is a darkly comedic family drama that delves into the complex legacy of a prominent African-American family. 

Kara sweetly thanked her mother before making a statement on how theater brings people together, even in a world that often feels fractured.

‘Thank you to my mother and my father. My mother, who is my date, Vanessa Jenkins Young. My Belizean queen of the bay who cooked and stewed and brewed me for nine months. Thank you. My father, Klay Young, and my brother, Klay Jr. I love you guys.’

She then stated: ‘In this world that we are so divided, theater is a sacred space! It’s a sacred space that we have to honor and treasure. And it makes us united. Thank you so much.’

She was presented the award by Carrie Preston and Harry Potter star Tom Felton. 

The Best Featured Actress in a Musical award went to Natalie Venetia Belcon, 56, for her performance in Buena Vista Social Club.

It was her first Tony nomination and win, and the star got emotional while accepting her award.

At one point Belcon also joked about having an ‘obsession’ with actor Jason Momoa, quipping, ‘Hey, Jason. How you doing?’

The Buena Vista Social Club musical is inspired by the true events surrounding the creation of the Grammy-winning album of the same name and the lives of the iconic Cuban musicians who created it. 

Belcon then thanked the ‘real Buena Vista Social Club, who of course we could not do this without. I hope you will see this. I hope you are proud of us. It is such an honor to portray you.’

‘My fellow nominees, your performances are all incredibly inspiring. My friends and family, thank you for listening to me cry and cackle and complain at 3:00 in the morning.’

She won out against Julia Knitel for Dead Outlaw, Gracie Lawrence for Just in Time, and Justina Machado for Real Women Have Curves, and Joy Woods for Gypsy.

She received the award from Rachel Bay Jones and Kristin Chenoweth. 

The best new play award went to author Branden Jacobs Jenkins and producer Glenn Davis for Purpose.

They were up against Oh, Mary!, John Proctor Is the Villain, English, and The Hills of California.

Author Jonathan Spector and producer Lynne Meadow accepted the award for Best Revival of a Play for Eureka Day.

They were up against Our Town, Romeo + Juliet, and Yellow Face.

Samuel L. Jackson and his wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson presented them with the award. 

The best direction of a play award was given to theatre director Sam Pinkleton for Oh, Mary!.

The award was presented by two-time Tony nominee Bryan Cranston and Allison Janney.

Pinkleton won out against Knud Adams for English, Sam Mendes for The Hills of California, Danya Taymor for John Proctor Is the Villain, and Kip Williams for The Picture of Dorian Gray.

‘We can bring joy to people at the end of a crappy day and that feels like a big deal to me. I love making theater and I love being part of this community. Thank you so much! I love you!’ he said while accepting his award.  

Meanwhile the best direction of a musical Tony award went to Michael Arden for Maybe Happy Ending. 

He beat out Saheem Ali for Buena Vista Social Club, David Cromer for Dead Outlaw, Christopher Gattelli for Death Becomes Her, and Jamie Lloyd for Sunset Boulevard. 

Arden thanked playwrights Will Aronson and Hue Park for writing, ‘a perfect musical.’

‘It dares us to love with radical abandon despite the fact that we know we have shelf lives. He reminds us that compassion is the antidote for isolation, and that empathy is not weakness, but a gift and our shared responsibility.’

‘The experience of live theater confirms, no matter how different we may be from one another, we are all connected and we are all here and in it together in this brief beautiful life.’

At the end of his acceptance speech he gave a shout out to composer Stephen Sondheim and the queer community, quipping, ‘As daddy Sondheim said, give us more to see. And if there are any queer people watching tonight, Happy pride.’

Producer Jamie Lloyd and legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber accepted the award for Best musical revival for Sunset Boulevard.

They won out against Floyd Collins, Gypsy and Pirates! The Penzance Musical.

They were presented the award by Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit. 

The most prestigious ceremony honoring theatre is hosted by three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, who kicked off the show with a thrilling performance featuring Oprah.

This year features major star power in the lead actor and actress categories. 

George Clooney is competing for his massively successful play Good Night, And Good Luck — an adaptation of the film of the same name that he directed, co-wrote and costarred in.

Darren Criss and Jonathan Groff are adding some star power to the lead actor in a musical category, while Megan Hilty, Nicole Scherzinger and Broadway legend Audra McDonald are some of the biggest names in the lead actress in a musical category. 

Bob Odenkirk is best known for his film and television work, including his acclaimed run on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but he’s now nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play category for his turn in the revival of David Mamet’s iconic drama of desperation, Glengarry Glen Ross. 

Going into the 2025 ceremony, three musicals are leading the pack with 10 nominations each: Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy.

Buena Vista Social Club is inspired by the beloved Cuban ensemble of the same name, which recorded a hit eponymous album in 1997 and was documented in Wim Wenders’ acclaimed documentary (also of the same name) in 1999.

Death Becomes Her is based on the Robert Zemeckis fantastical black comedy from 1992, which starred Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis.

Unlike those musicals, which are adapted from existing music and films, Maybe Happy is a science fiction–romance that originated in South Korea. It follows two android helper-bots who develop feelings for each other, despite the fact that their short life spans threaten any future plans. 

Dead Outlaw, John Proctor Is The Villain, Sunset Blvd. and The Hills Of California are all tied for seven Tony nominations, while Floyd Collins, Justin In Time, Purpose and The Picture Of Dorian Gray are tied for six. 

Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical are also competing in the Best Musical category, while English, The Hills Of California, John Proctor Is The Villain, Oh, Mary! and Purpose are vying for Best Play.

Purpose and English have already been honored with Pulitzer Prizes. 

This year’s nominated revivals include Eureka Day, Romeo + Juliet, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face in the play category, while Floyd Collins, Gypsy, Pirates! The Penzanze Musical and Sunset Blvd. fill out the Best Revival of a Musical category. 

The performances this year will highlight all of the new and revived musical nominees, as well as Just In Time and Real Women Have Curves, which weren’t nominated in best musical or revival but did receive other major nominations. 

The 2025 Tonys will look to the past as well with a tribute to Hamilton for its 10th anniversary as the original cast reunites for a performance. 

Miranda will be accompanied by Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Daveed Diggs, Ariana DeBose, Jonathan Groff and Christopher Jackson, all of whom were part of the original production.

Erivo, 38, was better known for her work in the theatre before expanding into a successful film and television career.

The Wicked Star — who recently stirred up controversy when she was announced as the star of a production of Jesus Christ Superstar being held at the Hollywood Bowl in August — is already three-quarters of the way toward completing the rare and coveted EGOT after winning an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony.

Along the way, she also received nominations for four Golden Globe Awards, two British Academy Film Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

She previously starred on Broadway in the popular adaptation of The Color Purple, which led to her performing its song I’m Here at the 2016 Tonys. 

The three-hour show, which starts at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT, can be watched live on CBS or streamed on Paramount+ with Showtime. Users with the Paramount+ Essential subscription will have the option to begin watching the show on the following day.