# Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role was an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial 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 commingled actor/actress award was introduced in 1985, merging the preceding awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role. However, this comingled award was suspended after its presentation in 1990; from 1991 to 2012, the supporting category vacillated at random between the commingled award (presented for 12 different seasons) and the original split pair of awards (presented for the other 11 seasons). The comingled Best Performance in a Supporting Role was last presented in 2012, and fully retired thereafter.
On the 16 occasions that this commingled award was given, it was presented six times to an actress and ten times to an actor.

## Winners and nominees
### 1980s

| Year | Actor | Play | Character |
| 1985 |
| 1985 | Imelda Staunton | A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is Green | Hannah Llewellyn / Bessie Watty |
| 1985 | Maria Aitken | Waste | Frances Trebell |
| 1985 | Patricia Routledge | Richard III | Queen Margaret |
| 1985 | Zoë Wanamaker | Mother Courage and Her Children | Mother Courage |
| 1986 |
| 1986 | Paul Jesson | The Normal Heart | Felix |
| 1986 | Janet Dale | The Merry Wives of Windsor and Othello | Mistress Page / Emilia |
| 1986 | Nicky Henson | As You Like It and The Merry Wives of Windsor | Touchstone / Ford |
| 1986 | Fiona Shaw | As You Like It and Mephisto | Celia / Erika Bruckner |
| 1987 |
| 1987 | Michael Bryant | King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra | The Fool / Enobarbus |
| 1987 | Robin Bailey | Fathers and Sons | Vassily Ivanyich Bazarov |
| 1987 | Diane Bull | Tons of Money | Louise Allington |
| 1987 | Sheila Reid | When I was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout | Morag |
| 1988 |
| 1988 | Eileen Atkins | Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and Mountain Language | Queen / Paulina / Elderly Woman |
| 1988 | Rudi Davies | A Touch of the Poet | Sara Melody |
| 1988 | Serena Evans | Henceforward... | Zoe |
| 1988 | Tony Haygarth | The Tempest | Trinculo |
| 1989/90 |
| 1989/90 | Michael Bryant | Hamlet, The Voysey Inheritance and Racing Demon | Polonius / Peacey / Rev. Harry Henderson |
| 1989/90 | Linda Kerr Scott | Ghetto | Djigan |
| 1989/90 | Simon Russell Beale | The Man of Mode, Restoration, Playing with Trains and Some Americans Abroad | Sir Fopling Flutter / Lord Are / Danny / Henry McNeil |
| 1989/90 | Zoë Wanamaker | Othello | Emilia |

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Play | Character |
| 1996 |
| 1996 | Simon Russell Beale | Volpone | Mosca |
| 1996 | Ben Chaplin | The Glass Menagerie | Tom Wingfield |
| 1996 | Geraldine McEwan | The Way of the World | Lady Wishfort |
| 1996 | Claire Skinner | The Glass Menagerie | Laura Wingfield |
| 1998 |
| 1998 | Sarah Woodward | Tom & Clem | Kitty |
| 1998 | Michael Bryant | King Lear | Lear's Fool |
| 1998 | Ronald Pickup | Amy's View | Frank Oddie |
| 1998 | Paul Rhys | King Lear | Edgar |
| 1999 |
| 1999 | Brendan Coyle | The Weir | Brendan |
| 1999 | Emma Fielding | The School for Scandal | Lady Teazle |
| 1999 | Adam Godley | Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick | Kenneth |
| 1999 | Michael Sheen | Amadeus | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Play | Character |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Essie Davis | A Streetcar Named Desire | Stella Kowalski |
| 2003 | Jessica Hynes | The Night Heron | Bolla |
| 2003 | Mark Strong | Twelfth Night | Orsino |
| 2003 | Sian Thomas | Up for Grabs | Dawn |
| 2004 |
| 2004 | Warren Mitchell | The Price | Gregory Solomon |
| 2004 | Joe Dixon | The Roman Actor | Paris |
| 2004 | Oliver Ford Davies | Absolutely! (Perhaps) | Laudisi |
| 2004 | Paul Hilton | Mourning Becomes Electra | Orin |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Amanda Harris | Othello | Emilia |
| 2005 | Samuel Barnett | The History Boys | Posner |
| 2005 | Judi Dench | All's Well that Ends Well | Countess Rossillion |
| 2005 | Eddie Redmayne | The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? | Billy |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | Noma Dumezweni | A Raisin in the Sun | Ruth Younger |
| 2006 | David Bradley | Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 | Henry IV of England |
| 2006 | Benedict Cumberbatch | Hedda Gabler | George Tesman |
| 2006 | Anne Reid | Epitaph for George Dillon | Kate Elliot |
| 2006 | Paul Ritter | Coram Boy | Otis Gardiner |
| 2007 |
| 2007 | Jim Norton | The Seafarer | Richard Harkin |
| 2007 | Samantha Bond | Donkeys' Years | Rosemary |
| 2007 | Deborah Findlay | The Cut | Susan |
| 2007 | Mark Hadfield | Thérèse Raquin | Grivet |
| 2007 | Colm Meaney | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Phil |
| 2008 |
| 2008 | Rory Kinnear | The Man of Mode | Fopling Fluter |
| 2008 | Michelle Fairley | Othello | Emilia |
| 2008 | Pam Ferris | The Entertainer | Phoebe Rice |
| 2008 | Conleth Hill | Philistines | Teterev |
| 2009 |
| 2009 | Patrick Stewart | Hamlet | Claudius / Ghost |
| 2009 | Oliver Ford Davies | Hamlet | Polonius |
| 2009 | Kevin McNally | Ivanov | Lebedev |
| 2009 | Paul Ritter | The Norman Conquests | Reg |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Play | Character |
| 2012 |
| 2012 | Sheridan Smith | Flare Path | Doris, Countess Skriczevinsky |
| 2012 | Mark Addy | Collaborators | Vladimir |
| 2012 | Oliver Chris | One Man, Two Guvnors | Stanley Stubbers |
| 2012 | Johnny Flynn | Jerusalem | Lee |
| 2012 | Bryony Hannah | The Children's Hour | Mary Tilford |