Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in professional 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.

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress
2025 Recipient: Lesley Manville
Awarded for	Best Actress in a Play
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First award	1985
Currently held by	Lesley Manville for Oedipus (2025)
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

This award was introduced in 1985, as Actress of the Year, then retitled to its current name for the 1993 ceremony. Prior to this award, from 1976 to 1984 (and again in 1988), there was a pair of awards given each year for this general category, one for Actress of the Year in a New Play and the other for Actress of the Year in a Revival.

Winners and nominees

Dame Judi Dench has won this award five times, for in 1977, 1980, 1983, 1987, and 1996

Lindsay Duncan won this award twice in 1986 and 2002

Fiona Shaw won this award twice in 1989 and 1994

Juliet Stevenson won for Death and the Maiden (1992)

Claire Higgins won this award three times in 1995, 2003, and 2005

Janet McTeer won for A Doll's House (1997)

Dame Eileen Atkins won twice for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2005)

Julie Walters won for All My Sons (2001)

Kristin Scott Thomas won for The Seagull (2008)

Tamsin Greig won for Much Ado About Nothing (2009)

Rachel Weisz won for A Streetcar Named Desire (2010)

Ruth Wilson won for Anna Christie (2012)

Helen Mirren won for The Audience (2013)

Lesley Manville won twice for Ghosts (2014) and Oedipus (2025)

Penelope Wilton won for Taken at Midnight (2015)

Laura Donnelly won for The Ferryman (2019)

Sharon D. Clarke won for Death of a Salesman (2020)

Sheila Atim won for Constellations (2022)

Jodie Comer won for Prima Facie (2023)

Sarah Snook won for The Portrait of Dorian Gray (2024)

1980s

Year	Actor	Play	Character
1985
	Yvonne Bryceland	The Road to Mecca	Miss Helen
	Wendy Morgan	Martine	Martine
	Harriet Walter	The Castle	Skinner
	Joanne Whalley	Saved	Pam
1986
	Lindsay Duncan	Les Liaisons Dangereuses	Marquise de Merteuil
	Julia McKenzie	Woman in Mind	Susan
	Juliet Stevenson	As You Like It, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Troilus and Cressida	Rosalind / Madame de Tourvel / Cressida
	Irene Worth	The Bay at Nice	Valentina Nrovka
1987
	Judi Dench	Antony and Cleopatra	Cleopatra
	Miranda Richardson	A Lie of the Mind	Beth
	Maggie Smith	Lettice and Lovage and Coming in to Land	Lettice Douffet / Halina
	Juliet Stevenson	Yerma	Yerma
1989/90
	Fiona Shaw	Electra, As You Like It and The Good Person of Szechwan	Electra / Celia / Shen Te
	Sheila Hancock	Prin	Prin
	Jane Lapotaire	Shadowlands	Joy
	Prunella Scales	Single Spies	Elizabeth II

1990s

Year	Actor	Play	Character
1991
	Kathryn Hunter	The Visit	Claire Zachanassian
	Penny Downie	Scenes from a Marriage	Marianne
	Barbara Jefford	Coriolanus	Volumnia
	Josette Simon	After the Fall	Maggie
1992
	Juliet Stevenson	Death and the Maiden	Paulina
	Janet McTeer	Uncle Vanya	Yelena
	Patricia Routledge	Talking Heads	Miss Schofield
	Fiona Shaw	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler Tesman
1993
	Alison Steadman	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Mari
	Stockard Channing	Six Degrees of Separation	Ouisa Kittredge
	Judi Dench	The Gift of the Gorgon	Helen
	Jane Horrocks	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Little Voice
1994
	Fiona Shaw	Machinal	Young Woman
	Kathryn Hunter	The Skriker	Skriker
	Diana Rigg	Medea	Medea
	Penelope Wilton	The Deep Blue Sea	Hester Collyer
1995
	Clare Higgins	Sweet Bird of Youth	Alexandra Del Lago
	Frances de la Tour	Les Parents terribles	Leo
	Sheila Gish	Les Parents terribles	Yvonne
	Margot Leicester	Broken Glass	Sylvia Gellburg
1996
	Judi Dench	Absolute Hell	Christine Foskett
	Diana Rigg	Mother Courage	Mother Courage
	Zoë Wanamaker	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
	Lia Williams	Skylight	Kyra Hollis
1997
	Janet McTeer	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
	Eileen Atkins	John Gabriel Borkman	Mrs. Gunhild Borkman
	Vanessa Redgrave	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim
	Diana Rigg	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
1998
	Zoë Wanamaker	Electra	Electra
	Judi Dench	Amy's View	Esme Allen
	Sally Dexter	Closer	Anna
	Maggie Smith	A Delicate Balance	Claire
1999
	Eileen Atkins	The Unexpected Man	Woman
	Sinéad Cusack	Our Lady of Sligo	Mai O'Hara
	Judi Dench	Filumena Marturano	Filumena
	Nicole Kidman	The Blue Room	Various Characters
	Diana Rigg	Britannicus and Phèdre	Agrippina / Phaedra

2000s

Year	Actor	Play	Character
2000
	Janie Dee	Comic Potential	Jacie Triplethree
	Jennifer Ehle	The Real Thing	Annie
	Maggie Smith	The Lady in the Van	Miss Shepherd
	Alison Steadman	The Memory of Water	Teresa
2001
	Julie Walters	All My Sons	Kate Keller
	Jessica Lange	Long Day's Journey Into Night	Mary Tyrone
	Helen Mirren	Orpheus Descending	Lady Torrance
	Julia Ormond	My Zinc Bed	Elsa
	Harriet Walter	Life x 3	Sonia
2002
	Lindsay Duncan	Private Lives	Amanda Prynne
	Lindsay Duncan	Mouth to Mouth	Laura
	Victoria Hamilton	A Day in the Death of Joe Egg	Sheila
	Zoë Wanamaker	Boston Marriage	Anna
2003
	Clare Higgins	Vincent in Brixton	Ursula Loyer
	Anita Dobson	Frozen	Nancy
	Gwyneth Paltrow	Proof	Catherine
	Emily Watson	Uncle Vanya	Sonya
2004
	Eileen Atkins	Honour	Honor
	Helen Mirren	Mourning Becomes Electra	Christine Mannon
	Ann Mitchell	Through the Leaves	Martha
	Kelly Reilly	After Miss Julie	Miss Julie
	Kristin Scott Thomas	Three Sisters	Masha
2005
	Clare Higgins	Hecuba	Hecuba
	Victoria Hamilton	Suddenly, Last Summer	Catharine
	Anna Maxwell Martin	His Dark Materials	Lyra
	Caroline O'Connor	Bombshells	Performer
2006
	Eve Best	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler Tesman
	Clare Higgins	Death of a Salesman	Linda Loman
	Helen McCrory	As You Like It	Rosalind
	Janet McTeer	Mary Stuart	Mary, Queen of Scots
	Harriet Walter	Mary Stuart	Elizabeth I of England
2007
	Tamsin Greig	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice
	Eve Best	A Moon for the Misbegotten	Josie
	Sinéad Cusack	Rock 'n' Roll	Eleanor / Esme
	Kathleen Turner	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
2008
	Kristin Scott Thomas	The Seagull	Arkadina
	Anne-Marie Duff	Saint Joan	Joan of Arc
	Kelly Reilly	Othello	Desdemona
	Fiona Shaw	Happy Days	Winnie
	Penelope Wilton	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim
2009
	Margaret Tyzack	The Chalk Garden	Mrs St. Maugham
	Deanna Dunagan	August: Osage County	Violet Weston
	Lindsay Duncan	That Face	Martha
	Penelope Wilton	The Chalk Garden	Miss Madrigal

2010s

Year	Actor	Play	Character
2010
	Rachel Weisz	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois
	Gillian Anderson	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
	Lorraine Burroughs	The Mountaintop	Camae
	Imelda Staunton	Entertaining Mr Sloane	Kath
	Juliet Stevenson	Duet for One	Stephanie Anderson
2011
	Nancy Carroll	After the Dance	Joan
	Tracie Bennett	End of the Rainbow	Judy Garland
	Tamsin Greig	The Little Dog Laughed	Diane
	Sophie Thompson	Clybourne Park	Bev
2012
	Ruth Wilson	Anna Christie	Anna Christie
	Celia Imrie	Noises Off	Dotty Otley
	Lesley Manville	Grief	Dorothy
	Kristin Scott Thomas	Betrayal	Emma
	Marcia Warren	The Ladykillers	Mrs Wilberforce
2013
	Helen Mirren	The Audience	Queen Elizabeth II
	Hattie Morahan	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
	Billie Piper	The Effect	Connie
	Kristin Scott Thomas	Old Times	Kate / Anna
2014
	Lesley Manville	Ghosts	Mrs. Helene Alving
	Hayley Atwell	The Pride	Sylvia
	Anna Chancellor	Private Lives	Amanda Prynne
	Judi Dench	Peter and Alice	Alice Liddell
2015
	Penelope Wilton	Taken at Midnight	Irmgard Litten
	Gillian Anderson	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois
	Kristin Scott Thomas	Electra	Electra
	Imelda Staunton	Good People	Margie Walsh
2016
	Denise Gough	People, Places and Things	Emma
	Gemma Arterton	Nell Gwynn	Nell Gwynn
	Nicole Kidman	Photograph 51	Rosalind Franklin
	Janet McTeer	Les Liaisons dangereuses	Marquise de Merteuil
	Lia Williams	Oresteia	Clytemnestra
2017
	Billie Piper	Yerma	Yerma
	Glenda Jackson	King Lear	King Lear
	Cherry Jones	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
	Ruth Wilson	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler Tesman
2018
	Laura Donnelly	The Ferryman	Caitlin Carney
	Lesley Manville	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Tyrone
	Audra McDonald	Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill	Billie Holiday
	Imelda Staunton	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Martha
2019
	Patsy Ferran	Summer and Smoke	Alma Winemiller
	Gillian Anderson	All About Eve	Margo Channing
	Eileen Atkins	The Height of the Storm	Madeleine
	Sophie Okonedo	Antony and Cleopatra	Cleopatra
	Katherine Parkinson	Home, I'm Darling	Judy

2020s

Year	Actor	Play	Character
2020
	Sharon D. Clarke	Death of a Salesman	Linda Loman
	Hayley Atwell	Rosmersholm	Rebecca West
	Juliet Stevenson	The Doctor	The Doctor
	Phoebe Waller-Bridge	Fleabag	Fleabag
2021	Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic[A]
2022 [A]
	Sheila Atim	Constellations	Marianne
	Lily Allen	2:22 A Ghost Story	Jenny
	Emma Corrin	Anna X	Anna
	Cush Jumbo	Hamlet	Hamlet
2023
	Jodie Comer	Prima Facie	Tessa
	Patsy Ferran	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois
	Mei Mac	My Neighbour Totoro	Mei
	Janet McTeer	Phaedra (new version by Simon Stone)	Helen
	Nicola Walker	The Corn Is Green	Miss Moffat
2024
	Sarah Snook	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Performer / Various
	Laura Donnelly	The Hills of California	Veronica / Joan
	Sophie Okonedo	Medea	Medea
	Sarah Jessica Parker	Plaza Suite	Karen Nash / Muriel Tate / Norma Hubley
	Sheridan Smith	Shirley Valentine	Shirley Valentine
2025
	Lesley Manville	Oedipus	Jocasta
	Heather Agyepong	Shifters	Des
	Rosie Sheehy	Machinal	Young Woman
	Meera Syal	A Tupperware of Ashes	Queenie
	Indira Varma	Oedipus	Jocasta

1. Due to late March 2020^[1] to late July 2021^[2] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022^[3]

Multiple awards and nominations for Best Actress

Note: The below awards and nominations include individuals awarded and nominated under the now-defunct categories Actress of the Year in a New Play and Actress of the Year in a Revival as well as the current combined Best Actress category.

Awards

Five awards

• Judi Dench

Three awards

• Clare Higgins

Two awards

• Eileen Atkins
• Lindsay Duncan
• Lesley Manville
• Fiona Shaw
• Frances de la Tour
• Dorothy Tutin
• Margaret Tyzack
• Zoë Wanamaker

Nominations

Nine nominations

• Judi Dench

Six nominations

• Eileen Atkins
• Penelope Wilton

Five nominations

• Sinéad Cusack
• Glenda Jackson
• Janet McTeer
• Kristin Scott Thomas
• Juliet Stevenson
• Maggie Smith
• Zoë Wanamaker

Four nominations

• Lindsay Duncan
• Clare Higgins
• Helen Mirren
• Diana Rigg
• Fiona Shaw
• Harriet Walter

Three nominations

• Gillian Anderson
• Lesley Manville
• Joan Plowright
• Vanessa Redgrave
• Imelda Staunton
• Frances de la Tour

Two nominations

• Hayley Atwell
• Eve Best
• Yvonne Bryceland
• Pauline Collins
• Patsy Ferran
• Susan Fleetwood
• Tamsin Greig
• Victoria Hamilton
• Rosemary Harris
• Kathryn Hunter
• Nicole Kidman
• Jane Lapotaire
• Rosemary Leach
• Geraldine McEwan
• Sophie Okonedo
• Billie Piper
• Kelly Reilly
• Alison Steadman
• Janet Suzman
• Dorothy Tutin
• Margaret Tyzack
• Julie Walters
• Lia Williams
• Ruth Wilson

See also

• Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress
• Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress
• Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play