Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play was an annual award given to the best actor in a non-musical play on Broadway or Off-Broadway, as determined by Outer Critics Circle. The award was first given out in 1977, preceded by a "Best Performance" category.
The award was preceded by an award for Best Performance, but the newly gendered award for musical performance was first given out the 1987–1988 season through the season. The award was retired in 2022 and replaced by Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play and Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play in gender-neutral performance categories.
Frank Langella holds the record for most wins in the category, receiving three awards, followed closely by Judd Hirsch, Nathan Lane, Kevin Kline and Bryan Cranston with two wins each. Langella also leads the nomination totals with five nominations, followed by Nathan Lane and Brían F. O'Byrne with four nominations each.
Awards winners
- Key
1970s
Year |
Actor |
Work |
Role |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 |
||||
Ralph Richardson |
No Man's Land |
Hirst |
||
1978 |
||||
Martin Balsam |
Cold Storage |
Parmigian |
||
Bernard Hughes |
Da |
Da |
||
John Wood |
Deathtrap |
Sidney Bruhl |
||
1979 |
No award given. |
|||
1980s
Year |
Actor |
Work |
Role |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 |
No award given. |
|||
1981 |
||||
Ian McKellen |
Amadeus |
Antonio Salieri |
||
1982 (tie) |
||||
Zakes Mokae |
"Master Harold"...and the Boys |
Sam |
||
Milo O’Shea |
Mass Appeal |
Tim Farley |
||
1983 |
||||
Tony Lo Bianco |
A View from the Bridge |
Eddie Carbone |
||
1984 |
No award given. |
|||
1985 |
||||
Jim Dale |
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg |
Bri |
||
1986 |
||||
Judd Hirsch |
I'm Not Rappaport |
Nat |
||
1987 |
||||
James Earl Jones |
Fences |
Troy Maxson |
||
1988 |
||||
Robert Prosky |
A Walk in the Woods |
Andrey Botvinnik |
||
1989 |
||||
Kevin Conway |
Other People’s Money |
William Coles |
||
1990s
Year |
Actor |
Work |
Role |
|---|---|---|---|
1990 |
|||
Robert Morse |
Tru |
Truman Capote |
|
Charles Durning |
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof |
Big Daddy |
|
Nathan Lane |
The Lisbon Traviata |
Mendy |
|
Gary Sinise |
The Grapes of Wrath |
Tom Joad |
|
1991 |
|||
Nigel Hawthorne |
Shadowlands |
C. S. Lewis |
|
Len Cariou |
Speed of Darkness |
Joe |
|
Stephen Lang |
Lou |
||
Nicol Williamson |
I Hate Hamlet |
John Barrymore |
|
1992 |
|||
Judd Hirsch |
Conversations with My Father |
Eddie Rose |
|
Alan Alda |
Jake's Women |
Jake |
|
Brian Bedford |
Two Shakespearean Actors |
Williams Charles Macready |
|
Roscoe Lee Browne |
Two Trains Running |
Holloway |
|
1993 |
|||
Robert Klein |
The Sisters Rosensweig |
Mervyn Kant |
|
K. Todd Freeman |
The Song of Jacob Zulu |
Jacob Zulu |
|
William H. Macy |
Oleanna |
John |
|
George C. Scott |
Wrong Turn at Lungfish |
Peter Ravenswaal |
|
1994 |
|||
Sam Waterston |
Abe Lincoln in Illinois |
Abraham Lincoln |
|
1995 |
|||
Nathan Lane |
Love! Valour! Compassion! |
Buzz Hauser |
|
1996 |
|||
George C. Scott |
Inherit the Wind |
Henry Drummond |
|
Jason Robards |
Molly Sweeney |
Mr. Rice |
|
Frank Langella |
The Father |
Andre |
|
Patrick Stewart |
The Tempest |
Prospero |
|
1997 |
|||
Christopher Plummer |
Barrymore |
John Barrymore |
|
Frank Langella |
Present Laughter |
Garry Essendine |
|
David Morse |
How I Learned to Drive |
Uncle Peck |
|
Anthony Sher |
Stanley |
Stanley Spencer |
|
1998 |
|||
Anthony LaPaglia |
A View from the Bridge |
Eddie Carbone |
|
Michael Emerson |
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde |
Oscar Wilde |
|
Sam Trammell |
Ah, Wilderness! |
Richard Miller |
|
Eli Wallach |
Visiting Mr. Green |
Mr. Green |
|
1999 |
|||
Kevin Spacey |
The Iceman Cometh |
Theodore "Hickey" Hickman |
|
Brian Dennehy |
Death of a Salesman |
Willy Loman |
|
Corin Redgrave |
Not About Nightingales |
Warden Whalen |
|
Roger Rees |
The Uneasy Chair |
Captain Josiah Wickett |
2000s
Year |
Actor |
Work |
Role |
|---|---|---|---|
2000 |
|||
Derek Jacobi |
Uncle Vanya |
Uncle Vanya |
|
Stephen Dillane |
The Real Thing |
Henry |
|
Michael Sheen |
Amadeus |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
|
David Suchet |
Antonio Salieri |
||
2001 |
|||
Richard Easton |
The Invention of Love |
Older Housman |
|
George Grizzard |
Judgment at Nuremberg |
Judge Dan Haywood |
|
Brian Stokes Mitchell |
King Hedley II |
King Hedley II |
|
Donald Sutherland |
Ten Unknowns |
Malcolm |
|
2002 |
|||
Alan Bates |
Fortune’s Fool |
Vassily Semyonitch Kuzovkin |
|
Ian McKellen |
Dance of Death |
Edgar |
|
Liam Neeson |
The Crucible |
John Proctor |
|
Bill Pullman |
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? |
Martin Gray |
|
2003 |
|||
Eddie Izzard |
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg |
Bri |
|
Brian Bedford |
Tartuffe |
Tartuffe |
|
Jochum ten Haaf |
Vincent in Brixton |
Vincent van Gogh |
|
Howard W. Overshown |
Yellowman |
Eugene |
|
Daniel Sunjata |
Take Me Out |
Darren Lemming |
|
2004 |
|||
Frank Langella |
Match |
Tevye |
|
Simon Russell Beale |
Jumpers |
George |
|
Kevin Kline |
Henry IV |
King Henry IV |
|
Brían F. O'Byrne |
Frozen |
Ralph |
|
Richard Thomas |
The Stendhal Syndrome |
The Conductor |
|
2005 |
|||
Brían F. O'Byrne |
Doubt |
Father Flynn |
|
Alan Alda |
Glengarry Glen Ross |
Father Flynn |
|
Billy Crudup |
The Pillowman |
Katurian |
|
James Earl Jones |
On Golden Pond |
Norman Thayer Jr. |
|
John Rubinstein |
Counsellor-at-Law |
George Simon |
|
2006 |
|||
Gabriel Byrne |
A Touch of the Poet |
Cornelius "Con" Melody |
|
Zeljko Ivanek |
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial |
Lt. Comm. Queeg |
|
Ian McDiarmid |
Faith Healer |
Teddy |
|
David Wilmot |
The Lieutenant of Inishmore |
Padraic |
|
2007 |
|||
Frank Langella |
Frost/Nixon |
Richard Nixon |
|
Brían F. O'Byrne |
The Coast of Utopia |
Alexander Herzen |
|
Christopher Plummer |
Inherit the Wind |
Henry Drummond |
|
Liev Schreiber |
Talk Radio |
Barry Champlain |
|
2008 |
|||
Kevin Kline |
Cyrano de Bergerac |
Cyrano |
|
Ben Daniels |
Les Liaisons Dangereuses |
Vicomte de Valmont |
|
Kevin Anderson |
Come Back, Little Sheba |
Doc Delaney |
|
Patrick Stewart |
Macbeth |
Macbeth |
|
2009 |
|||
Geoffrey Rush |
Exit the King |
King Berenger. |
|
Bill Irwin |
Waiting for Godot |
Lucky |
|
Nathan Lane |
Estragon |
||
Raúl Esparza |
Speed-the-Plow |
Charlie Fox |
|
Thomas Sadoski |
reasons to be pretty |
Greg |
2010s
Year |
Actor |
Work |
Role |
|---|---|---|---|
2010 |
|||
Denzel Washington |
Fences |
Troy Maxson |
|
Bill Heck |
The Orphans' Home Cycle |
Horace |
|
Christopher Walken |
A Behanding in Spokane |
Carmichael |
|
Jude Law |
Hamlet |
Hamlet |
|
Liev Schreiber |
A View from the Bridge |
Eddie Carbone |
|
2011 |
|||
Mark Rylance |
Jerusalem |
Johnny "Rooster" Byron |
|
Al Pacino |
The Merchant of Venice |
Shylock |
|
Bobby Cannavale |
The Motherfucker with the Hat |
Jackie |
|
Reed Birney |
The Dream of the Burning Boy |
Larry |
|
2012 |
|||
James Corden |
One Man, Two Guvnors |
Francis Henshall |
|
Hamish Linklater |
The School for Lies |
Frank |
|
Philip Seymour Hoffman |
Death of a Salesman |
Willy Loman |
|
Russell Harvard |
Tribes |
Billy |
|
Santino Fontana |
Sons of the Prophet |
Joseph |
|
2013 |
|||
Nathan Lane |
The Nance |
Charlemagne |
|
David Hyde Pierce |
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike |
Vanya |
|
Shuler Hensley |
The Whale |
Charlie |
|
Tom Hanks |
Lucky Guy |
Mike McAlary |
|
Tracy Letts |
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
George |
|
2014 |
|||
Bryan Cranston |
All the Way |
LBJ |
|
Ian McKellen |
No Man's Land |
Spooner |
|
Brían F. O’Byrne |
Outside Mullingar |
Anthony |
|
Mark Rylance |
Twelfth Night |
Olivia |
|
Tony Shalhoub |
Act One |
George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart |
|
2015 |
|||
Alex Sharp |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
Christopher |
|
Reed Birney |
I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard |
David |
|
Bradley Cooper |
The Elephant Man |
John Merrick |
|
Stephen McKinley Henderson |
Between Riverside and Crazy |
Pops |
|
Ben Miles |
Wolf Hall |
Thomas Cromwell |
|
2016 |
|||
Frank Langella |
The Father |
Andre |
|
Reed Birney |
The Humans |
Erik |
|
Gabriel Byrne |
Long Day's Journey into Night |
James Tyrone Sr. |
|
Mark Strong |
A View From the Bridge |
Eddie Carbone |
|
Ben Whishaw |
The Crucible |
John Proctor |
|
2017 |
|||
Kevin Kline |
Present Laughter |
Garry Essendine |
|
Daniel Craig |
Othello |
Iago |
|
Michael Emerson |
Wakey, Wakey |
Unnamed Male |
|
David Oyelowo |
Othello |
Othello |
|
David Hyde Pierce |
A Life |
Nate Martin |
|
2018 |
|||
Andrew Garfield |
Angels in America |
Prior Walter |
|
Sean Carvajal |
Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train |
Angel Cruz |
|
Tom Hollander |
Travesties |
Henry Carr |
|
Gregg Mozgala |
Cost of Living |
John |
|
Michael Urie |
The Government Inspector |
Ivan Alexandreyevich Hlestakov |
|
2019 |
|||
Bryan Cranston |
Network |
Howard Beale |
|
McKinley Belcher III |
The Light |
Rashad |
|
Daveed Diggs |
White Noise |
Leo |
|
Bill Irwin |
On Beckett |
Himself |
|
Jeremy Pope |
Choir Boy |
Pharus Jonathan Young |
2020s
Year |
Actor |
Work |
Role |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 (Hon.) |
Ian Barford |
Linda Vista |
Dick Wheeler |
|
Edmund Donovan |
Greater Clements |
Joe |
||
Raúl Esparza |
Seared |
Harry |
||
Tom Hiddleston |
Betrayal |
Robert |
||
Will Hochman |
The Sound Inside |
Christopher |
||
Jonathan Pryce |
The Height of the Storm |
Andre |
||
2021 |
No award given due to COVID-19 pandemic. |
|||
2022 |
||||
Simon Russell Beale |
The Lehman Trilogy |
Haim "Henry" Lehman |
||
Adam Godley |
The Lehman Trilogy |
Mayer Lehman |
||
Adrian Lester |
Emmanuel Lehman |
|||
Sam Rockwell |
American Buffalo |
Teach |
||
Patrick J. Adams |
Take Me Out |
Kippy Sunderstrom |
||
Multiple wins
- 3 wins
- Frank Langella
- 2 wins
- Judd Hirsch
- Nathan Lane
- Kevin Kline
- Bryan Cranston
Multiple nominations
- 5 nominations
- Frank Langella
- 4 nominations
- Nathan Lane
- Brían F. O'Byrne
- 3 nominations
- Ian McKellen
- Kevin Kline
- Reed Birney
- 2 nominations
- Judd Hirsch
- James Earl Jones
- Alan Alda
- Brian Bedford
- George C. Scott
- Patrick Stewart
- Christopher Plummer
- Michael Emerson
- Simon Russell Beale
- Gabriel Byrne
- Liev Schreiber
- Bill Irwin
- Raúl Esparza
- Mark Rylance
- David Hyde Pierce
- Bryan Cranston
See also
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play
- Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
References
Outstanding Actor in a Play Category:Theatre acting awards Category:Awards for male actors