# Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was one of eight new acting awards first presented in 1975, when Drama Desk retired an earlier award that had made no distinction between work in plays and musicals, nor between actors and actresses, nor between lead performers and featured performers.
After the 2022 ceremony, all eight acting categories introduced in 1975 were retired. The award for Outstanding Actress in a Play, along with Outstanding Actor in a Play, were replaced in 2023 with the gender neutral category of Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play.

## Winners and nominees
### 1970s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 1975 |
| 1975 | Ellen Burstyn | Same Time, Next Year | Doris |
| 1975 | Elizabeth Ashley | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Maggie |
| 1975 | Female Ensemble | Women Behind Bars | Female Ensemble |
| 1975 | Tovah Feldshuh | Yentl | Yentl |
| 1975 | Rita Moreno | The Ritz | Googie Gomez |
| 1975 | Diana Rigg | The Misanthrope | Celimene |
| 1975 | Maggie Smith | Private Lives | Amanda Prynne |
| 1975 | Liv Ullmann | A Doll's House | Nora Helmer |
| 1976 |
| 1976 | Rosemary Harris | The Royal Family | Julie Cavendish |
| 1976 | Fran Brill | What Every Woman Knows | Maggie Wylie |
| 1976 | Tovah Feldshuh | Yentl | Yentl |
| 1976 | Lois Nettleton | They Knew What They Wanted | Amy |
| 1976 | Meryl Streep | 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, A Memory of Two Mondays, Secret Service and Trelawny of the 'Wells' | Various Characters |
| 1977 |
| 1977 | Irene Worth | The Cherry Orchard | Ranevskaya |
| 1977 | Trazana Beverley | For Colored Girls | Lady in Red |
| 1977 | Blythe Danner | The New York Idea | Cynthia Karslake |
| 1977 | Cara Duff-MacCormick | The Philanderer | Julia Craven |
| 1977 | Diane Ladd | Lu Ann Hampton Laverly | Lu Ann Hampton |
| 1977 | Sofia Landon | Peg o' My Heart | Peg |
| 1977 | Dorothy McGuire | The Night of the Iguana | Hannah |
| 1978 |
| 1978 | Jessica Tandy | The Gin Game | Fonsia Dorsey |
| 1978 | Helen Burns | Catsplay | Mrs. Bela Orban |
| 1978 | Patricia Elliott | Tartuffe | Dorine |
| 1978 | Tammy Grimes | Tartuffe | Elmire |
| 1978 | Carol Mayo Jenkins | Zinnia | Zinnia |
| 1978 | Shirley Knight | Landscape of the Body | Betty |
| 1979 |
| 1979 | Constance Cummings | Wings | Emily Stilson |
| 1979 | Carole Shelley | The Elephant Man | Madge Kendal |
| 1979 | Kate Reid | Bosoms and Neglect | Henny |
| 1979 | Frances Sternhagen | On Golden Pond | Ethel Thayer |
| 1979 | Susan Stevens | The Price of Genius | Unknown |

### 1980s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 1980 |
| 1980 | Pat Carroll | Gertrude Stein | Gertrude Stein |
| 1980 | Blythe Danner | Betrayal | Emma |
| 1980 | Phyllis Frelich | Children of a Lesser God | Sarah Norman |
| 1980 | Mary Tyler Moore | Whose Life Is it Anyway? | Claire |
| 1980 | Susan Sarandon | A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking | Maude Mix |
| 1981 |
| 1981 | Joan Copeland | The American Clock | Rose Baum |
| 1981 | Eva Le Gallienne | To Grandmother's House We Go | Grandie |
| 1981 | Mary Beth Hurt | Crimes of the Heart | Meg MaGrath |
| 1981 | Amanda Plummer | A Taste of Honey | Josephine |
| 1981 | Elizabeth Taylor | The Little Foxes | Regina Giddens |
| 1982 |
| 1982 | Zoe Caldwell | Medea | Medea |
| 1982 | Barbara Bryne | Entertaining Mr Sloane | Kath |
| 1982 | Constance Cummings | The Chalk Garden | Mrs. St. Maugham |
| 1982 | Elizabeth Franz | Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You | Sister Mary Ignatius |
| 1982 | Bernadette Peters | Sally and Marsha | Sally |
| 1983 |
| 1983 | Jessica Tandy | Foxfire | Annie Nations |
| 1983 | Suzanne Bertish | Skirmishes | Jean |
| 1983 | Colleen Dewhurst | Queen and the Rebels | Argia |
| 1983 | Thuli Dumakude | Poppie Nongena | Poppie |
| 1983 | Christine Estabrook | Win/Lose/Draw | Various Characters |
| 1983 | Susan Sarandon | Extremities | Marjorie |
| 1984 |
| 1984 | Joan Allen | And a Nightingale Sang | Hellen Stott |
| 1984 | Rosemary Harris | Heartbreak House | Hesione Hushabye |
| 1984 | Kate Nelligan | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Josie Hogan |
| 1984 | Natsuko Ohama | Sound and Beauty | Woman |
| 1984 | Marilyn Rockafellow | Open Admissions | Ginny Carlsen |
| 1984 | Irene Worth | The Golden Age | Isabel Hastings Hoyt |
| 1985 |
| 1985 | Rosemary Harris | Pack of Lies | Barbara Jackson |
| 1985 | Stockard Channing | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Sheila |
| 1985 | Roxanne Hart | Digby | Faye |
| 1985 | Lynn Redgrave | Aren't We All? | Mrs. W. Tatham |
| 1985 | Elizabeth Wilson | Salonika | Enid |
| 1986 |
| 1986 | Lily Tomlin | The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe | Various Characters |
| 1986 | Joan Allen | The Marriage of Bette and Boo | Bette Brennan |
| 1986 | Stockard Channing | The House of Blue Leaves | Bunny Flingus |
| 1986 | Judith Ivey | Precious Sons | Bea |
| 1986 | Swoosie Kurtz | The House of Blue Leaves | Bananas Shaughnessy |
| 1986 | Kathryn Pogson | Aunt Dan and Lemon | Lemon |
| 1987 |
| 1987 | Linda Lavin | Broadway Bound | Kate Jerome |
| 1987 | Robin Bartlett | The Early Girl | Jean |
| 1987 | Lindsay Duncan | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Marquise de Merteuil |
| 1987 | Dana Ivey | Driving Miss Daisy | Daisy Werthan |
| 1987 | Amy Madigan | The Lucky Spot | Sue Jack |
| 1987 | Dianne Wiest | Hunting Cockroaches | Anka |
| 1988 |
| 1988 | Stockard Channing | Woman in Mind | Susan |
| 1988 | Kathy Bates | Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune | Frankie |
| 1988 | Amy Irving | The Road to Mecca | Elsa |
| 1988 | Glenda Jackson | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth |
| 1988 | E. Katherine Kerr | Laughing Wild | Woman |
| 1988 | Gordana Rashovich | Shayna Maidel | Luisa |
| 1989 |
| 1989 | Pauline Collins | Shirley Valentine | Shirley Valentine |
| 1989 | Joan Allen | The Heidi Chronicles | Heidi Holland |
| 1989 | Robin Bartlett | Reckless | Rachel |
| 1989 | Colleen Dewhurst | Long Day's Journey into Night | Mary Cavan Tyrone |
| 1989 | Gloria Foster | The Forbidden City | Miss Molly Hoffenburg |
| 1989 | Nancy Marchand | The Cocktail Hour | Ann |

### 1990s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 1990 |
| 1990 | Geraldine James | The Merchant of Venice | Portia |
| 1990 | Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | Twelfth Night | Viola |
| 1990 | S. Epatha Merkerson | The Piano Lesson | Berniece |
| 1990 | Mary-Louise Parker | Prelude to a Kiss | Rita Boyle |
| 1991 |
| 1991 | Mercedes Ruehl | Lost in Yonkers | Bella Kurnitz |
| 1991 | Stockard Channing | Six Degrees of Separation | Ouisa Kittredge |
| 1991 | Angela Goethals | The Good Times Are Killing Me | Edna Arkins |
| 1991 | Audra Lindley | About Time | Old Woman |
| 1992 |
| 1992 | Laura Esterman | Marvin's Room | Bessie |
| 1992 | Jane Alexander | The Visit | Claire Zachanassian |
| 1992 | Glenn Close | Death and the Maiden | Paulina Salas Escobar |
| 1992 | Deborah Hedwall | Sight Unseen | Patricia |
| 1993 |
| 1993 | Jane Alexander | The Sisters Rosensweig | Sara Goode |
| 1993 | Juliana Carneiro da Cunha | Les Atrides | Clytemnestra |
| 1993 | Christine Lahti | Three Hotels | Barbara Hoyle |
| 1993 | Debra Monk | Redwood Curtain | Geneva Riordan |
| 1993 | Natasha Richardson | Anna Christie | Anna Christopherson |
| 1994 |
| 1994 | Myra Carter | Three Tall Women | A |
| 1994 | Kathleen Chalfant | Angels in America: Perestroika | Various Characters |
| 1994 | Amy Irving | Broken Glass | Sylvia Gellburg |
| 1994 | Diana Rigg | Medea | Medea |
| 1994 | Joan Rivers | Sally Marr...and Her Escorts | Sally Marr |
| 1994 | Harriet Walter | Three Birds Alighting on a Field | Biddy |
| 1995 |
| 1995 | Cherry Jones | The Heiress | Catherine Sloper |
| 1995 | Mary Alice | Having Our Say | Bessie Delany |
| 1995 | Stockard Channing | Hapgood | Mother |
| 1995 | Linda Lavin | Death Defying Acts | Dorothy / Carol |
| 1995 | Helen Mirren | A Month in the Country | Natalia Petrovna |
| 1995 | Mercedes Ruehl | The Rose Tattoo | Serafina Delle Rose |
| 1996 |
| 1996 | Zoe Caldwell | Master Class | Maria Callas |
| 1996 | Catherine Byrne | Molly Sweeney | Molly |
| 1996 | Uta Hagen | Mrs. Klein | Mrs. Klein |
| 1996 | Lisa Gay Hamilton | Valley Song | Veronica |
| 1996 | Rosemary Harris | A Delicate Balance | Agnes |
| 1996 | Sarah Jessica Parker | Sylvia | Sylvia |
| 1997 |
| 1997 | Janet McTeer | A Doll's House | Nora Helmer |
| 1997 | Jayne Atkinson | The Skriker | The Skriker |
| 1997 | Frances Conroy | The Rehearsal | The Countess |
| 1997 | Shirley Knight | The Young Man From Atlanta | Lily Dale Kidder |
| 1997 | Vanessa Redgrave | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra |
| 1997 | Lia Williams | Skylight | Kyra Hollis |
| 1998 |
| 1998 | Cherry Jones | Pride's Crossing | Mabel |
| 1998 | Edie Falco | Side Man | Terry |
| 1998 | Marie Mullen | The Beauty Queen of Leenane | Maureen Folan |
| 1998 | J. Smith-Cameron | As Bees In Honey Drown | Alexa |
| 1998 | Frances Sternhagen | Long Day's Journey into Night | Mary Cavan Tyrone |
| 1999 |
| 1999 | Kathleen Chalfant | Wit | Vivian Bearing |
| 1999 | Judi Dench | Amy's View | Esme Allen |
| 1999 | Lindsay Duncan | Ashes to Ashes | Rebecca |
| 1999 | Elizabeth Franz | Death of a Salesman | Linda Loman |
| 1999 | Swoosie Kurtz | The Mineola Twins | Myra / Myrna |
| 1999 | Zoë Wanamaker | Electra | Electra |

### 2000s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 2000 |
| 2000 | Eileen Heckart | The Waverly Gallery | Gladys Green |
| 2000 | Sinéad Cusack | Our Lady of Sligo | Mai O'Hara |
| 2000 | Linda Lavin | The Tale of the Allergist's Wife | Marjorie |
| 2000 | Claudia Shear | Dirty Blonde | Jo / Mae West |
| 2000 | Lynne Thigpen | Jar the Floor | Lola |
| 2000 | Charlayne Woodard | In the Blood | Hester, La Negrita |
| 2001 |
| 2001 | Mary-Louise Parker | Proof | Catherine |
| 2001 | Eileen Atkins | The Unexpected Man | Woman |
| 2001 | Janie Dee | Comic Potential | Jacie Triplethree |
| 2001 | Mary Beth Fisher | Boys Get Girl | Caroline |
| 2001 | Marian Seldes | The Play About the Baby | The Woman |
| 2001 | Lili Taylor | The Dead Eye Boy | Shirley / Diane |
| 2002 |
| 2002 | Lindsay Duncan | Private Lives | Amanda Prynne |
| 2002 | Robin Bartlett | Everett Beekin | Sophie |
| 2002 | Anna Paquin | The Glory of Living | Lisa |
| 2002 | Sarah Jessica Parker | Wonder of the World | Cass |
| 2002 | Mercedes Ruehl | The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? | Stevie |
| 2002 | Meryl Streep | The Seagull | Arkadina |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Vanessa Redgrave | Long Day's Journey into Night | Mary Cavan Tyrone |
| 2003 | Jayne Atkinson | Enchanted April | Lotty Wilton |
| 2003 | Marylouise Burke | Kimberly Akimbo | Kimberly |
| 2003 | Claire Higgins | Vincent in Brixton | Ursula Loyler |
| 2003 | Dael Orlandersmith | Yellowman | Alma |
| 2003 | Fiona Shaw | Medea | Medea |
| 2004 |
| 2004 | Viola Davis | Intimate Apparel | Esther |
| 2004 | Phylicia Rashad | A Raisin in the Sun | Lena Younger |
| 2004 | Eileen Atkins | The Retreat from Moscow | Alice |
| 2004 | Shannon Cochran | Bug | Agnes White |
| 2004 | Lizan Mitchell | The Trojan Women | Hecuba |
| 2004 | J. Smith-Cameron | Sarah, Sarah | Sarah |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Cherry Jones | Doubt | Sister Aloysius Beauvier |
| 2005 | Veanne Cox | Last Easter | June |
| 2005 | Judy Kaye | Souvenir | Florence Foster Jenkins |
| 2005 | Laura Linney | Sight Unseen | Patricia |
| 2005 | Frances Sternhagen | Echoes of the War | Mrs. Dowey |
| 2005 | Kathleen Turner | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Martha |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | Lois Smith | The Trip to Bountiful | Carrie Watts |
| 2006 | Margaret Colin | Defiance | Margaret |
| 2006 | Cherry Jones | Faith Healer | Grace |
| 2006 | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Abigail's Party | Beverly |
| 2006 | Jan Maxwell | Entertaining Mr Sloane | Kath |
| 2006 | Julie White | The Little Dog Laughed | Diane |
| 2007 |
| 2007 | Eve Best | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Josie Hogan |
| 2007 | Orlagh Cassidy | The Field | Maimie Flanagan |
| 2007 | Blythe Danner | Suddenly, Last Summer | Mrs. Venable |
| 2007 | Jennifer Mudge | Dutchman | Lula |
| 2007 | Sandra Oh | Satellites | Nina |
| 2007 | Annie Parisse | The Internationalist | Sara |
| 2007 | Meryl Streep | Mother Courage and Her Children | Mother Courage |
| 2008 |
| 2008 | Deanna Dunagan | August: Osage County | Violet Weston |
| 2008 | Sinéad Cusack | Rock 'n' Roll | Eleanor / Esme |
| 2008 | Frances McDormand | The Country Girl | Georgie Elgin |
| 2008 | Amy Morton | August: Osage County | Barbara Weston Fordham |
| 2008 | Fiona Shaw | Happy Days | Winnie |
| 2008 | Julie White | From Up Here | Grace |
| 2009 |
| 2009 | Janet McTeer | Mary Stuart | Mary Stuart |
| 2009 | Saidah Arrika Ekulona | Ruined | Mama Nadi |
| 2009 | Jane Fonda | 33 Variations | Katherine Brandt |
| 2009 | Marcia Gay Harden | God of Carnage | Veronica |
| 2009 | Elizabeth Marvel | Fifty Words | Jan |
| 2009 | Jan Maxwell | Scenes from an Execution | Galactia |

### 2010s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 2010 |
| 2010 | Jan Maxwell | The Royal Family | Julie Cavendish |
| 2010 | Ayesha Antoine | My Wonderful Day | Winnie Barnstairs |
| 2010 | Melissa Errico | Candida | Candida |
| 2010 | Anne Hathaway | Twelfth Night | Viola |
| 2010 | Kristen Johnston | So Help Me God! | Lily Darnley |
| 2010 | Laura Linney | Time Stands Still | Sarah Goodwin |
| 2011 |
| 2011 | Frances McDormand | Good People | Margie Walsh |
| 2011 | Nina Arianda | Born Yesterday | Emma 'Billie' Dawn |
| 2011 | Stockard Channing | Other Desert Cities | Polly Wyeth |
| 2011 | Laurie Metcalf | The Other Place | Juliana Smithton |
| 2011 | Michele Pawk | A Small Fire | Emily Bridges |
| 2011 | Lily Rabe | The Merchant of Venice | Portia |
| 2012 |
| 2012 | Tracie Bennett | End of the Rainbow | Judy Garland |
| 2012 | Sanaa Lathan | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark | Vera Stark |
| 2012 | Linda Lavin | The Lyons | Rita Lyons |
| 2012 | Jennifer Lim | Chinglish | Xi Yan |
| 2012 | Kim Martin-Cotten | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Josie Hogan |
| 2012 | Carey Mulligan | Through a Glass Darkly | Karin |
| 2012 | Joely Richardson | Side Effects | Lindy |
| 2013 |
| 2013 | Cicely Tyson | The Trip to Bountiful | Carrie Watts |
| 2013 | Maria Dizzia | Belleville | Abby |
| 2013 | Amy Morton | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Martha |
| 2013 | Julia Murney | Falling | Tami |
| 2013 | Vanessa Redgrave | The Revisionist | Maria |
| 2013 | Miriam Silverman | Finks | Natalie |
| 2014 |
| 2014 | Audra McDonald | Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill | Billie Holiday |
| 2014 | Barbara Andres | I Remember Mama | Mama |
| 2014 | Tyne Daly | Mothers and Sons | Katharine Gerard |
| 2014 | Laurie Metcalf | Domesticated | Judy Pulver |
| 2014 | J. Smith-Cameron | Juno and the Paycock | Juno Boyle |
| 2014 | Harriet Walter | Julius Caesar | Brutus |
| 2015 |
| 2015 | Helen Mirren | The Audience | Queen Elizabeth II |
| 2015 | Brooke Bloom | You Got Older | Mae |
| 2015 | Kathleen Chalfant | A Walk in the Woods | Irina Botvinnik |
| 2015 | Kristin Griffith | The Fatal Weakness | Ollie Espenshade |
| 2015 | Jan Maxwell | The City of Conversation | Hester Ferris |
| 2015 | Carey Mulligan | Skylight | Kyra Holis |
| 2015 | Tonya Pinkins | Rasheeda Speaking | Jaclyn Spaulding |
| 2016 |
| 2016 | Jessica Lange | Long Day's Journey into Night | Mary Tyrone |
| 2016 | Georgia Engel | John | Mertis |
| 2016 | Mamie Gummer | Ugly Lies the Bone | Jess |
| 2016 | Marin Ireland | Ironbound | Darja |
| 2016 | Nicola Walker | A View from the Bridge | Beatrice Carbone |
| 2017 |
| 2017 | Laura Linney | The Little Foxes | Regina Giddens |
| 2017 | Cate Blanchett | The Present | Anna Petrovna |
| 2017 | Laurie Metcalf | A Doll's House, Part 2 | Nora Helmer |
| 2017 | Amy Ryan | Love, Love, Love | Sandra |
| 2017 | Harriet Walter | The Tempest | Prospero |
| 2018 |
| 2018 | Glenda Jackson | Three Tall Women | A |
| 2018 | Carrie Coon | Mary Jane | Mary Jane |
| 2018 | Denise Gough | People, Places and Things | Emma |
| 2018 | Laurie Metcalf | Three Tall Women | B |
| 2018 | Billie Piper | Yerma | Her |
| 2019 |
| 2019 | Elaine May | The Waverly Gallery | Gladys |
| 2019 | Midori Francis | Usual Girls | Kyeoung |
| 2019 | Zainab Jah | Boesman and Lena | Lena |
| 2019 | Laurie Metcalf | Hillary and Clinton | Hillary Clinton |
| 2019 | Heidi Schreck | What the Constitution Means to Me | Heidi |

### 2020s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 2020 |
| 2020 | Liza Colón-Zayas | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Sarge |
| 2020 | Rose Byrne | Medea | Medea |
| 2020 | Emily Davis | Is This a Room | Reality Winner |
| 2020 | April Matthis | Toni Stone | Toni Stone |
| 2020 | Ruth Negga | Hamlet | Hamlet |
| 2021 | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City |
| 2022 |
| 2022 | Phylicia Rashad | Skeleton Crew | Faye |
| 2022 | Tala Ashe | English | Elham |
| 2022 | Ruth Negga | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth |
| 2022 | Andrea Patterson | Cullud Wattah | Ainee |
| 2022 | Shannon Tyo | The Chinese Lady | Afong Moy |
| 2022 | Michelle Wilson | Confederates | Sandra |

## Multiple wins
### 3 wins

* Cherry Jones

### 2 wins

* Zoe Caldwell
* Rosemary Harris
* Janet McTeer
* Phylicia Rashad
* Jessica Tandy