The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year."
Originally called the Tony Award for Actor, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic), the award was first presented to Arthur Kennedy at the 3rd Tony Awards for his portrayal of Biff Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Before 1956, nominees' names were not made public; the change was made by the awards committee to "have a greater impact on theatregoers". In 1976, when the award's name changed to its current title, Edward Herrmann, portraying Frank Gardner in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession, won the award. Its most recent recipient is Christian Borle for the role of Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher.
Frank Langella holds the record for having the most wins in this category with a total of two; he is the only person to win the award more than once. Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross and Phil Hogan in A Moon for the Misbegotten are the only characters to take the award multiple times, both winning twice. A supporting actor in each of Neil Simon's Eugene trilogy plays (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound) has taken the Tony, whereas featured actors in both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels in America series have also won the award.
Read more about Tony Award For Best Featured Actor In A Play: Recipients, See Also, Notes, References
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