# Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play

The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play was an award presented annually at the Lucille Lortel Awards to honor an actress for excellence in a leading role in an Off-Broadway production. The categories were split into Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical in 2014. The acting categories were made gender-neutral in 2021.

## Nominees and recipients
### 1990s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 1992 | Eileen Atkins | A Room of One’s Own | Virginia Woolf |
| 1993 | Anna Deavere Smith | Fires in the Mirror | All |
| 1994 | Myra Carter | Three Tall Women | A |
| 1995 | Linda Lavin (Tie) | Death Defying Acts | Dorothy/Carol |
| 1995 | Eileen Atkins (Tie) | Vita & Virginia | Virginia Woolf |
| 1996 | Uta Hagen | Mrs. Klein | Mrs. Klein |
| 1997 | Mary-Louise Parker | How I Learned to Drive | Li'l Bit |
| 1998 | Cherry Jones | Pride’s Crossing | Mabel Tidings/Bigelow |
| 1999 | Kathleen Chalfant | Wit | Vivian Bearing, Ph.D. |

### 2000s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 2000 | Eileen Heckart | The Waverly Gallery | |
| 2001 | Mary-Louise Parker | Proof | Catherine |
| 2001 | Eileen Atkins | The Unexpected Man | The Woman |
| 2001 | Janie Dee | Comic Potential | Jacie Triplethree |
| 2001 | Mary Beth Fisher | Boy Gets Girl | Theresa Bedell |
| 2001 | Marian Seldes | The Play About the Baby | Woman |
| 2002 | Linda Emond | Homebody/Kabul | The Homebody |
| 2002 | Ruby Dee | Saint Lucy’s Eyes | N/A |
| 2002 | Martha Plimpton | Hobson’s Choice | Maggie Hobson |
| 2002 | Phylicia Rashad | Blue | Peggy Clark |
| 2002 | Elaine Stritch | Elaine Stritch At Liberty | N/A |
| 2003 | Tovah Feldshuh | Golda's Balcony | Golda Meir |
| 2003 | S. Epatha Merkerson | Fucking A | Hester Smith |
| 2003 | Kate Mulgrew | Tea at Five | Katharine Hepburn |
| 2003 | Pamela Payton-Wright | Fifth of July | Sally Friedman |
| 2003 | Parker Posey | Fifth of July | Gwen Landis |
| 2004 | Tonya Pinkins | Caroline, or Change | Caroline Thibodeaux |
| 2004 | Lisa Emery | Iron | Fay |
| 2004 | Jayne Houdyshell | Well | Ensemble |
| 2004 | Swoosie Kurtz | Frozen | Nancy |
| 2004 | Zilah Mendoza | Living Out | Ana Hernandez |
| 2005 | Cherry Jones | Doubt | Sister Aloysius |
| 2005 | Ashlie Atkinson | Fat Pig | Helen |
| 2005 | Viola Davis | Intimate Apparel | Esther |
| 2005 | Judy Kaye | Souvenir | Florence Foster Jenkins |
| 2005 | Elizabeth Marvel | Hedda Gabler | Hedda Gabler |
| 2006 | Lois Smith | The Trip to Bountiful | Carrie Watts |
| 2006 | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Abigail's Party | Beverly |
| 2006 | S. Epatha Merkerson | Birdie Blue | Birdie |
| 2006 | Julie White | The Little Dog Laughed | Diane |
| 2006 | Dianne Wiest | Third | Laurie Jameson |
| 2007 | Gloria Reuben | Stuff Happens | Condoleezza Rice |
| 2007 | Rebecca Brooksher | Dying City | Kelly |
| 2007 | Jill Clayburgh | The Busy World Is Hushed | Hannah |
| 2007 | Patricia Heaton | The Scene | Stella |
| 2007 | Laila Robins | Sore Throats | Judy |
| 2008 | Elizabeth Franz | The Piano Teacher | Mrs. K |
| 2008 | Lisa Gay Hamilton | Ohio State Murders | Suzanne Alexander |
| 2008 | Jayne Houdyshell | The Receptionist | Beverly Wilkins |
| 2008 | Alison Pill | Blackbird | Una |
| 2008 | Lynn Redgrave | Grace | Grace |
| 2009 | Saidah Arrika Ekulona | Ruined | Mama Nadi |
| 2009 | Ellen Burstyn | The Little Flower of East Orange | Therese Marie |
| 2009 | Carmen M. Herlihy | crooked | Maribel |
| 2009 | Kellie Overbey | The Savannah Disputation | Melissa |
| 2009 | Annie Parisse | Becky Shaw | Becky |

### 2010s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 2010 | Judith Ivey | The Glass Menagerie | Amanda Wingfield |
| 2010 | Nina Arianda | Venus in Fur | Vanda |
| 2010 | Jayne Houdyshell | Coraline | Coraline |
| 2010 | Cristin Milioti | Stunning | Lily Schwecky |
| 2010 | Sherie Rene Scott | Everyday Rapture | Sherie Rene Scott |
| 2011 | Laurie Metcalf | The Other Place | Juliana |
| 2011 | Tracee Chimo | Bachelorette | Regan |
| 2011 | Edie Falco | This Wide Night | Lorraine |
| 2011 | Elizabeth Marvel | The Little Foxes | Regina Giddens |
| 2011 | Michele Pawk | A Small Fire | Emily Bridges |
| 2012 | Sanaa Lathan | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark | Vera Stark |
| 2012 | Cristin Milioti | Once | Girl |
| 2012 | Carey Mulligan | Through a Glass Darkly | Karin |
| 2012 | Molly Ranson | Carrie | Carrie |
| 2012 | Mary Testa | Queen of the Mist | Annie Edson Taylor |
| 2013 | Roslyn Ruff | The Piano Lesson | Berniece |
| 2013 | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Neva | Masha |
| 2013 | America Ferrera | Bethany | Crystal |
| 2013 | Vanessa Redgrave | The Revisionist | Maria |
| 2013 | Sharon Washington | Wild With Happy | Adelaide/Aunt Glo |
| 2014 | Tracee Chimo | Bad Jews | Daphna |
| 2014 | Diane Davis | The Model Apartment | Debby |
| 2014 | Carolyn McCormick | The Open House | Mother |
| 2014 | Laurie Metcalf | Domesticated | Judy |
| 2014 | Andrus Nichols | Bedlam's Hamlet and Saint Joan | Actor #2/Gertrude/Ophelia/Joan/Others |
| 2015 | Tonya Pinkins | Rasheeda Speaking | Jaclyn |
| 2015 | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Grand Concourse | Shelly |
| 2015 | Anna Gunn | Sex With Strangers | Olivia |
| 2015 | Jan Maxwell | The City of Conversation | Hester Ferris |
| 2015 | S. Epatha Merkerson | While I Yet Live | Maxine |
| 2016 | Phylicia Rashad | Head of Passes | Shelah |
| 2016 | Ito Aghayere | Familiar | Nyasha |
| 2016 | Georgia Engel | John | Mertis Katherine Graven |
| 2016 | Jayne Houdyshell | The Humans | Deirdre |
| 2016 | Chinasa Ogbuagu | Sojourners | Abasiama |
| 2017 | Jennifer Ehle | Oslo | Mona |
| 2017 | Johanna Day | Sweat | Tracey |
| 2017 | Jennifer Kidwell | Underground Railroad Game | Teacher Caroline |
| 2017 | Kecia Lewis | Marie and Rosetta | Sister Rosetta Tharpe |
| 2017 | Maryann Plunkett | Women of a Certain Age | Mary |
| 2018 | Carrie Coon | Mary Jane | Mary Jane |
| 2018 | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | The Amateurs | Hollis |
| 2018 | MaameYaa Boafo | School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play | Paulina Sarpong |
| 2018 | Cristin Milioti | After the Blast | Anna |
| 2018 | Karen Pittman | Pipeline | Nya |
| 2019 | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Marys Seacole | Mary |
| 2019 | Ako | God Said This | Masako |
| 2019 | Marin Ireland | Blue Ridge | Alison |
| 2019 | Zainab Jah | Boesman and Lena | Lena |
| 2019 | Charlayne Woodard | Daddy | Zora |

### 2020s

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
| 2020 | Emily Davis | Is This a Room | Reality Winner |
| 2020 | Liza Colón-Zayas | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Sarge |
| 2020 | April Matthis | Toni Stone | Toni Stone |
| 2020 | Zoë Winters | Heroes of the Fourth Turning | Teresa |
| 2020 | Kara Young | All the Natalie Portmans | Keyonna |

## Multiple awards

* Eileen Atkins, 2 awards for Lead Actress
* Cherry Jones, 2 Awards for Lead Actress
* Mary-Louise Parker, 2 awards for Lead Actress
Most nominations without a win
* Jayne Houdyshell (4 nominations)
* S. Epatha Merkerson (3 nominations)
* Cristin Milioti (2 nominations) (Plus one for Lead Actress in a Musical)