TV: 2011 Tony Awards Winners Circle - Ellen Barkin, 'This is the Holy Grail of prizes'

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Ellen Barkin is the 2011 recipient of the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Normal Heart.  Broadway Beat's Richie Ridge spoke with the star immediately following her acceptance about what winning the award means to her. Click below to catch up with Barkin right after her big moment!

Ellen Barkin's superb acting skills have enabled her to play roles ranging from an abusive single mother to a sultry femme fatale. Her versatility has made her a sought after and esteemed actress in theater, film and television. Barkin stars in the much-anticipated indie project, Another Happy Day, directed by Sam Levinson. The film-co-starring Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore, Ellen Burstyn and Thomas Haden Church-recently premiered to rave reviews at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Other recent film credits include Cam Archer's Shit Year, which premiered to rave reviews at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Paul Salome's The Chameleon and Gary Winick's Letters To Juliet, for which she went behind the camera as one of the film's producers.

Barkin has had an illustrious and diverse acting career comprised of over forty films that include, in no particular order, Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 13, Todd Solondz's Palindromes, Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest, Mitchell Lichtenstein's Happy Tears, Michael Caton-Jones's This Boy's Life, opposite Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Spike Lee's She Hate Me, Tony Scott's The Fan, opposite Robert De Niro, Walter Hill's Wild Bill, opposite Jeff Bridges, Harold Becker's Sea Of Love, opposite Al Pacino, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Terry Gilliam's Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas, Mike Newell's Into The West, Bob Rafelson's Man Trouble, opposite Jack Nicholson, John Tururro's Mac, Jim McBride's The Big Easy, opposite Dennis Quaid; Blake Edwards's Switch, Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies, Eugene Corr's Desert Bloom and Sydney Lumet's Daniel. Her first film and breakout performance was in Barry Levinson's Diner.

She garnered her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Blake Edward's Switch, and received her second Golden Globe nomination and the Emmy Award® for Best Actress for her performance in Oprah Winfrey's Before Women Had Wings.

The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards are bestowed annually on theatre professionals for distinguished achievement. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry and the annual telecast is considered one of the most prestigious programs on television. The 2011 Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

Marking 65 years of excellence on Broadway, The Tony Awards were broadcast live from the Beacon Theatre.