by Jeroslyn JoVonn
May 3, 2025
Audra McDonald is making history with her 11th Tony nomination.
Audra McDonald scored her 11th Tony nomination for her role as Rose Hovick in the current Broadway revival of Gypsy, making her the most nominated performer in Broadway history.
The 2025 Tony Award nominations were unveiled on May 1, with Audra McDonald earning a nod for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. The nomination breaks her previous 10-nomination tie with the late Julie Harris and Chita Rivera for the most Tony-nominated performer in history, Playbill reports.
“I’m so grateful, and that’s overwhelming to think about. I’m so lucky,” McDonald told The Hollywood Reporter. “The one thing I always wanted to do growing up, one thing that gave me joy and kind of gave me purpose and made me feel most like myself was to perform theater. And so to be at this point and to have that kind of recognition is just overwhelming. I’m grateful, and it doesn’t seem real, because I don’t know how to process that.”
The feat comes 10 years after McDonald became the most-awarded performer in Tony history with six wins. She earned her first Tony in 1994, credited then as Audra Ann McDonald, for her role as Carrie Pipperidge in “Carousel.”
She went on to win five more for “Master Class” (1996), “Ragtime” (1998), “A Raisin in the Sun” (2004), “Porgy and Bess” (2012), and “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” (2014). Her additional nominations include “Marie Christine” (2000), “110 in the Shade” (2007), “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” (2020), and “Ohio State Murders” (2023).
After hearing the news of her record-breaking nomination, McDonald celebrated with a DoorDash-delivered iced matcha latte topped with lavender foam and an apple fritter. Her husband, actor Will Swenson, also surprised her with a “Tony the Tiger” T-shirt he had on standby for the occasion.
“So that was my celebration, and now I’ve got to go back to work,” McDonald said ahead of her performance that evening.
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