| Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play |
| Location | United States |
| Presented by | The Off-Broadway League[1][2] |
| Currently held by | Emily Davis for Is This a Room (2020) |
| Website | lortelaward |
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.[3] The acting categories were made gender-neutral in 2021.[4]
| 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 |
| 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. |
| Year | Actress | Play | Character | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Judith Ivey | The Glass Menagerie | Amanda Wingfield | |
| Nina Arianda | Venus in Fur | Vanda | ||
| Jayne Houdyshell | Coraline | Coraline | ||
| Cristin Milioti | Stunning | Lily Schwecky | ||
| Sherie Rene Scott | Everyday Rapture | Sherie Rene Scott | ||
| 2011 | Laurie Metcalf | The Other Place | Juliana | |
| Tracee Chimo | Bachelorette | Regan | ||
| Edie Falco | This Wide Night | Lorraine | ||
| Elizabeth Marvel | The Little Foxes | Regina Giddens | ||
| Michele Pawk | A Small Fire | Emily Bridges | ||
| 2012 | Sanaa Lathan | By the Way, Meet Vera Stark | Vera Stark | |
| Cristin Milioti | Once | Girl | ||
| Carey Mulligan | Through a Glass Darkly | Karin | ||
| Molly Ranson | Carrie | Carrie | ||
| Mary Testa | Queen of the Mist | Annie Edson Taylor | ||
| 2013 | Roslyn Ruff | The Piano Lesson | Berniece | [5] |
| Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Neva | Masha | ||
| America Ferrera | Bethany | Crystal | ||
| Vanessa Redgrave | The Revisionist | Maria | ||
| Sharon Washington | Wild With Happy | Adelaide/Aunt Glo | ||
| 2014 | Tracee Chimo | Bad Jews | Daphna | |
| Diane Davis | The Model Apartment | Debby | ||
| Carolyn McCormick | The Open House | Mother | ||
| Laurie Metcalf | Domesticated | Judy | ||
| Andrus Nichols | Bedlam's Hamlet and Saint Joan | Actor #2/Gertrude/Ophelia/Joan/Others | ||
| 2015 | Tonya Pinkins | Rasheeda Speaking | Jaclyn | [6] |
| Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Grand Concourse | Shelly | ||
| Anna Gunn | Sex With Strangers | Olivia | ||
| Jan Maxwell | The City of Conversation | Hester Ferris | ||
| S. Epatha Merkerson | While I Yet Live | Maxine | ||
| 2016 | Phylicia Rashad | Head of Passes | Shelah | [7] |
| Ito Aghayere | Familiar | Nyasha | ||
| Georgia Engel | John | Mertis Katherine Graven | ||
| Jayne Houdyshell | The Humans | Deirdre | ||
| Chinasa Ogbuagu | Sojourners | Abasiama | ||
| 2017 | Jennifer Ehle | Oslo | Mona | [8] |
| Johanna Day | Sweat | Tracey | ||
| Jennifer Kidwell | Underground Railroad Game | Teacher Caroline | ||
| Kecia Lewis | Marie and Rosetta | Sister Rosetta Tharpe | ||
| Maryann Plunkett | Women of a Certain Age | Mary | ||
| 2018 | Carrie Coon | Mary Jane | Mary Jane | [9] |
| Quincy Tyler Bernstine | The Amateurs | Hollis | ||
| MaameYaa Boafo | School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play | Paulina Sarpong | ||
| Cristin Milioti | After the Blast | Anna | ||
| Karen Pittman | Pipeline | Nya | ||
| 2019 | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Marys Seacole | Mary | [10] |
| Ako | God Said This | Masako | ||
| Marin Ireland | Blue Ridge | Alison | ||
| Zainab Jah | Boesman and Lena | Lena | ||
| Charlayne Woodard | Daddy | Zora |
| Year | Actress | Play | Character | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Emily Davis | Is This a Room | Reality Winner | [11] |
| Liza Colón-Zayas | Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven | Sarge | ||
| April Matthis | Toni Stone | Toni Stone | ||
| Zoë Winters | Heroes of the Fourth Turning | Teresa | ||
| Kara Young | All the Natalie Portmans | Keyonna |
Most nominations without a win