Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance

The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance is an honor presented at the Outer Critics Circle Awards, a ceremony established in 1950 for excellence in Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, to actors for quality leading roles in a play, whether a new production or a revival. The award was first presented in the 1994-1995 season.

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance
Sarah Snook, 2025 winner
Awarded for	Outstanding Solo Performance
Location	New York City
Presented by	Outer Critics Circle
Currently held by	Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray (2025)
Website	OuterCriticsCircle.org

John Leguizamo has won the award two times out of three nominations, while Mike Birbiglia has received the most nominations with five (including one win).

Winners and nominees

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

1990s

Year	Actor	Project	Ref.
1995
	James Lescene	Word of Mouth	[1]
1996
	Patti Lupone	Patti Lupone on Broadway	[2]
1997
	Felix A. Pire	Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown	[3][4]
1998
	John Leguizamo	Freak	[5][6]
	Danny Hoch	Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop
	Lewis Black	Black Humor
1999
	David Hare	Via Dolorosa	[7][8]
	James Naughton	James Naughton: Street of Dreams
	Lisa Kron	2.5 Minute Ride
	Dan Gordon	A Night in November

2000s

Year	Actor	Project	Ref.
2000 (tie)
	Olympia Dukakis	Rose	[9][10]
	Mark Setlock	Fully Committed
	Mark Linn-Baker	Chesapeake
Marc Wolf	Another American Asking and Telling
2001
	Pamela Gien	The Syringa Tree	[11][12]
	Brian D'Arcy James	The Good Thief
	Bill Irwin	Texts for Nothing
	Tovah Feldshuh	Tallulah Hallelujah
2002
	Elaine Stritch	Elaine Stritch at Liberty	[13][14]
	John Leguizamo	Sexaholix
	Kevin Bacon	An Almost Holy Picture
	Charles Nelson Reilly	Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly
2003
	Frank Gorshin	Say Goodnight, Gracie	[15][16]
	Tovah Feldshuh	Golda's Balcony
	Charlayne Woodard	In Real Life
	Kate Mulgrew	Tea at Five
2004
	Jefferson Mays	I Am My Own Wife	[17][18]
	Martin Moran	The Tricky Part
	Sarah Jones	Bridge and Tunnel
	Angelica Torn	Edge
2005
	Billy Crystal	700 Sundays	[19][20]
	Heather Raffo	Nine Parts of Desire
	Gareth Armstrong	Shylock
	Mercedes Ruehl	Woman Before a Glass
2006
	Antony Sher	Primo	[21][22]
	Marga Gomez	Los Big Names
	Jack Holmes	RFK
	Steven Fales	Steven Fales: Confessions of a Mormon Boy
2007
	Nilaja Sun	No Child...	[23][24]
	Daniel Beaty	Emergen-See
	Jay Johnson	Jay Johnson: The Two & Only!
	Ed Harris	Wrecks
2008
	Laurence Fishburne	Thurgood	[25][26]
	Chazz Palminteri	A Bronx Tale
	Stephen Lang	Beyond Glory
	April Yvette Thompson	Liberty City
2009
	Lorenzo Pisoni	Humor Abuse	[27][28]
	Matt Sax	Clay
	Mike Daisey	If You See Something, Say Something
	Mike Burstyn	Lansky
	Mike Birbiglia	Sleepwalk With Me

2010s

Year	Actor	Project	Ref.
2010
	Carrie Fisher	Wishful Drinking	[29][30]
	Anna Deavere Smith	Let Me Down Easy
	Jim Brochu	Zero Hour
	Judith Ivey	The Lady With All The Answers
2011
	John Leguizamo	Ghetto Klown	[31][32]
	Mike Birbiglia	Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
	Michael Shannon	Mistakes Were Made
	Daniel Beaty	Through the Night
2012
	Denis O'Hare	An Iliad	[33][34]
	Stephen Spinella	An Iliad
	Judy Gold	My Life As a Sitcom
	David Greenspan	The Patsy
2013
	Holland Taylor	Ann	[35][36]
	Martin Moran	All The Rage
	Fiona Shaw	The Testament of Mary
	Michael Urie	Buyer & Cellar
	Bette Midler	I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers
2014
	John Douglas Thompson	Satchmo at the Waldorf	[37][38]
	Alexandra Silber	Arlington
	Ruben Santiago-Hudson	How I Learned What I Learned
	Debra Jo Rupp	Becoming Dr. Ruth
	Jim Brochu	Character Man
2015
	Jim Dale	Just Jim Dale	[39][40]
	Cush Jumbo	Josephine and I
	Joe Assadourian	The Bullpen
	Benjamin Scheuer	The Lion
	Tom Dugan	Wiesenthal
2016
	James Lecesne	The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey	[41][42][43]
	Daphne Rubin-Vega	Empanada Loca
	Anne Hathaway	Grounded
	Kathleen Chalfant	Rose
	Mike Birbiglia	Thank God for Jokes
2017
	Simon McBurney	The Encounter	[44][45]
	Judith Light	All the Ways to Say I Love You
	Ed Dixon	Georgie: My Adventures with George Ross
	Marin Ireland	On the Exhale
	Sarah Jones	Sell/Buy/Date
2018
	Billy Crudup	Harry Clarke	[46][47]
	Sharon Washington	Feeding the Dragon
	Eve Ensler	In the Body of the World
	John Lithgow	John Lithgow: Stories by Heart
	Alison Fraser	Squeamish
2019
	Mike Birbiglia	The New One	[48][49]
	Jake Gyllenhaal	A Life
	Maddie Corman	Accidentally Brave
	Carey Mulligan	Girls & Boys
	Renee Taylor	My Life on a Diet

2020s

Year	Actor	Project	Ref.
2020 (Hon.)	David Cale	We're Only Alive For a Short Amount of Time	[50][51]
	Laura Linney	My Name Is Lucy Barton
	Aedin Moloney	Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom
	Deirdre O'Connell	Dana H.
	Michael Benjamin Washington	Fires in the Mirror
2021	No awards given due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
	Kristina Wong	Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord	[52][53]
	Arturo Luís Soria	Ni Mi Madre
	Jenn Murray	A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing
	Alex Edelman	Just for Us
2023
	Jodie Comer	Prima Facie	[54][55]
	Jefferson Mays	A Christmas Carol
	Sam Morrison	Sugar Daddy
	Mike Birbiglia	The Old Man and the Pool
	Anthony Rapp	Without You
2024
	Patrick Page	All the Devils Are Here	[56][57]
	John Rubenstein	Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground
	Eddie Izzard	Hamlet
	Mona Pirnot	I Love You So Much I Could Die
	Robert Montano	Small
2025
	Sarah Snook	The Picture of Dorian Gray	[58][59]
	Sam Kissajukian	300 Paintings
	Khawla Ibraheem	A Knock on the Roof
	David Greenspan	I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan
	Andrew Scott	Vanya

Multiple wins

2 wins

• John Leguizamo

Multiple nominations

5 nominations

• Mike Birbiglia

3 nominations

• John Leguizamo

2 nominations

• Tovah Feldshuh
• Jefferson Mays
• Sarah Jones
• Daniel Beaty
• Jim Brochu
• David Greenspan

See also

• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance
• Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show