OEDIPUS's Lesley Manville Wins 2026 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Lesley Manville has won the 2026 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for OEDIPUS.

Lesley Manville has already won the 2025 Olivier Award for her role as Jocasta in the acclaimed production, directed by Robert Icke for Wyndham’s Theatre.

The venerated actor had a notable journey to Tonys night, hopping on a flight from the UK the night before the ceremony, following the closing performance of Les Liasons Dangereuses on London's West End.

About Lesley Manville

Lesley Manville is a multi-award-winning stage, film, and television actress, best known internationally for her Emmy and BAFTA-nominated performance as Princess Margaret in The Crown and her Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated turn in Phantom Thread.

A celebrated stage performer, Manville won the Olivier Award and Critics’ Circle Award for her acclaimed performance in Ghosts, seen at the Almeida Theatre, in the West End, and at BAM in New York. She also received Olivier Award nominations for Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Grief. Her extensive theater career includes work with The Royal Court Theatre (Top Girls, Serious Money, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Borderline, Three Sisters, Saved), the Royal Shakespeare Company (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, As You Like It), The National Theatre (His Dark Materials, Her Naked Skin, The Alchemist, The Visit), The Old Vic (All About My Mother, Six Degrees of Separation), and the Bridge Theatre’s production of Talking Heads.

A frequent collaborator of Mike Leigh, Manville won the National Board of Review Award and the London Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress for her performance in Another Year, also earning BAFTA and British Independent Film Award nominations. Her many collaborations with Leigh include All or Nothing, Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Turner, High Hopes, Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, and Grown-Ups.

Her recent screen work includes Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer, Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, Queer, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris—which earned her a Golden Globe nomination—Back to Black, The Critic, and both Maleficent films. Upcoming projects include Jack of Spades, Cold Storage opposite Liam Neeson, Winter of the Crow, Midwinter Break, Marble Hall Murders, and the second season of Citadel.

In recognition of her contributions to drama, Manville was appointed OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 2015 and promoted to CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2021.

About OEDIPUS

It's election night. The polls predict a landslide victory. Everything is about to change. Icke's visionary revival was nothing short of a sensation. Oedipus became an instant phenomenon and the highest-grossing limited-run production in Wyndham's history. It didn't just bring Greek tragedy back to the West End—it redefined it. This Oedipus played like a political thriller, gripping audiences in breathless suspense until its final, devastating moment.