The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was one of eight new acting awards first presented in 1975, when Drama Desk retired an earlier award that had made no distinction between work in plays and musicals, nor between actors and actresses, nor between lead performers and featured performers.
After the 2022 ceremony, all eight acting categories introduced in 1975 were retired. The award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, along with Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, were replaced in 2023 with the gender neutral category of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play.
Winners and nominees 1970s Year Actor Play Character 1975 Frank Langella Seascape Leslie Louis Beachner The National Health Flagg Larry Blyden Absurd Person Singular Sidney David Dukes Love for Love Scandal Rules of the Game Guido Venanzi Philip Locke Sherlock Holmes Professor Moriarty Dick Anthony Williams Black Picture Show Alexander 1976 Judd Hirsch Knock Knock Various Characters Leonard Cimino A Memory of Two Mondays Jim Edward Herrmann Mrs. Warren's Profession Frank Gardner Roy Poole A Memory of Two Mondays Gus 1977 Bob Dishy Sly Fox Abner Truckle Anthony Call The Trip Back Down Super Joe Weller Héctor Elizondo Sly Fox Simon Able Michael Lombard Otherwise Engaged Artemy Zemlyanik Everett McGill Lu Ann Hampton Laverly Oberlander Dale Laverty Ralph Roberts The Oldest Living Graduate Mike Tremaine 1978 Morgan Freeman The Mighty Gents Zeke Jeffrey DeMunn A Prayer for My Daughter Jack Delasante Visili Bogazianos P.S. Your Cat Is Dead Vrro Jerome Dempsey Dracula Abraham Van Helsing George Dzundza A Prayer for My Daughter Kelly Michael Higgins Molly Teddy Lester Rawlins Da Drumm 1979 George Rose The Kingfisher Hawkins Michael Gough Bedroom Farce Ernest I.M. Hobson The Elephant Man Various Characters Nicholas Woodeson Man and Superman Henry Straker
1980s Year Actor Play Character 1980 David Rounds Morning's at Seven Homer Bolton David Dukes Bent Horst Michael Gross Bent Greta Doug McClure The Roast Charles Browning Hansford Rowe Nuts Arthur Kirk Fritz Weaver The Price Walter Franz 1981 Brian Backer The Floating Light Bulb Paul Pollack Ralph Clanton The Winslow Boy Arthur Winslow Roderick Cook The Man Who Came to Dinner Beverly Carlton Jeff Daniels Fifth of July Jed Jenkins Nicholas Kepros Amadeus Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor John Shea American Days Don Sherman 1982 Adolph Caesar A Soldier's Play Sergeant Waters Željko Ivanek Cloud Nine Betty / Gerry Matthew Broderick Torch Song Trilogy David Bill Moor Potsdam Quartet John Healey Mandy Patinkin Henry IV Hotspur Larry Riley A Soldier's Play Private C.J. Memphis 1983 Alan Feinstein A View from the Bridge Marco Stephen Joyce The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial Captain Blakely Nathan Lane Present Laughter Roland Maule Frank Maraden The Workroom First Presser Stephen Moore All's Well that Ends Well Captain Parolles Michael Moriarty The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial Lt. Com. Philip Francis Queeg Stephen D. Newman The Misanthrope Philinte 1984 John Malkovich Death of a Salesman Biff Loman David Huddleston Death of a Salesman Charley Stephen Keep A Private View Vanek Calvin Levels Open Admissions Calvin Jefferson Chip Zien Isn't It Romantic Marty Sterling 1985 Charles S. Dutton Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Levee Barry Miller Biloxi Blues Arnold Epstein Ken Kliban As Is Barney / Brother Edward Petherbridge Strange Interlude Charles Marsden David Proval Requiem for a Heavyweight Army Hakes Bill Sadler Biloxi Blues Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey 1986 Joseph Maher Loot Truscott James Gammon A Lie of the Mind Baylor Donald Moffat The Iceman Cometh Larry Slade Anthony Rapp Precious Sons Freddy 1987 John Randolph Broadway Bound Ben Michael Countryman The Common Pursuit Martin Musgrove Frankie R. Faison Fences Gabriel Peter Friedman The Common Pursuit Humphry Taylor Ray Gill Driving Miss Daisy Boolie Werthan Tony Jay The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Mr. Vincent Crummles / Walter Bray 1988 BD Wong M. Butterfly Song Liling Athol Fugard The Road to Mecca Rev. Marius Byleveld Michael Gough Breaking the Code Dillwyn Knox Joe Grifasi The Boys Next Door Arnold Wiggins Ed Hall Joe Turner's Come and Gone Bynum Walker Lou Liberatore Burn This Larry 1989 Peter Frechette Eastern Standard Drew Fyvush Finkel Café Crown Sam Bill Irwin Waiting for Godot Lucky Edmund Lewis Without Apologies Willie Jukes Matt McGrath Dalton's Back Dalty Possil Eric Stoltz Our Town George Gibbs Gordon Joseph Weiss Ghetto The Dummy
1990s Year Actor Play Character 1990 Charles Durning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Big Daddy Rocky Carroll The Piano Lesson Lymon Simon Jones Privates on Parade Giles Flack Francis Guinan The Grapes of Wrath Various Characters Dustin Hoffman The Merchant of Venice Shylock 1991 Kevin Spacey Lost in Yonkers "Uncle" Louie Dylan Baker La Bête Prince Conty Marcus Chong Stand-Up Tragedy Lee Cortez Leland Gantt Let Me Live Dupree Josef Sommer Hamlet Polonius 1992 Laurence Fishburne Two Trains Running Sterling Giancarlo Esposito Distant Fires Performer Željko Ivanek Two Shakespearean Actors John Ryder Mark Rosenthal Marvin's Room Hank 1993 Joe Mantello Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Louis Ironson Stephen Spinella Prior Walter David Marshall Grant Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Joe Pitt / Prior 1 / The Eskimo Robert Klein The Sisters Rosensweig Mervyn Kant Eli Wallach The Price Gregory Solomon 1994 Jeffrey Wright Angels in America: Perestroika Mr. Lies / Belize Marcus D'Amico An Inspector Calls Eric Birling Gregory Itzin The Kentucky Cycle Various Characters Ron Leibman Angels in America: Perestroika Roy Cohn Christopher McCann The Lights Erenhart 1995 Nathan Lane Love! Valour! Compassion! Buzz Hauser Simon Coates As You Like It Celia John Glover Love! Valour! Compassion! John and James Jeckyll Kevin Kilner The Glass Menagerie Jim O'Connor Anthony LaPaglia The Rose Tattoo Alvaro Mangiacavallo Alessandro Nivola A Month in the Country Beliaev 1996 Martin Shaw An Ideal Husband Lord Arthur Goring Heavy D Riff Raff Tony James Gammon Buried Child Dodge Alfred Molina Molly Sweeney Lord Goring Reg Rogers Holiday Ned Seton Ruben Santiago-Hudson Seven Guitars Canewell 1997 Brian Murray The Little Foxes Benjamin Kirk Acevedo Tooth of Crime (Second Dance) Crow Billy Crudup Three Sisters Solyony David Greenspan The Boys in the Band Harold Edward Herrmann Psychopathia Sexualis Dr. Block Christopher Evan Welch Scapin Silvestre 1998 Alfred Molina 'Art' Yvan Adam Alexi-Malle Goose-Pimples Muhammad Ruaidhri Conroy The Cripple of Inishmaan Billy Claven Ron Leibman A Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds Rabbi Azriel Max Wright Ivanov Pavel Lebedev Harris Yulin The Diary of Anne Frank Mr. Van Daan 1999 Kevin Anderson Death of a Salesman Biff Peter Bartlett The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told Various Characters James Black Not About Nightingales Butch O'Fallon Paul Giamatti The Iceman Cometh James Cameron Ciarán Hinds Closer Larry Howard Witt Death of a Salesman Charley
2000s Year Actor Play Character 2000 Roy Dotrice A Moon for the Misbegotten Phil Hogan Matthew Arkin Dinner with Friends Gabe Joel Grey Give Me Your Answer, Do! Jack Donovan Philip Seymour Hoffman The Author's Voice Gene Brian Murray Uncle Vanya Alexander Vladimirovich Serebryakov Harris Yulin The Price Walter Franz 2001 Charles Brown King Hedley II Elmore Oliver Ford Davies Richard II Duke of York Aaron Himelstein The Dead Eye Boy Soren Justin Kirk Ten Unknowns Judd Burgess Maximilian Schell Judgment at Nuremberg Dr. Ernst Janning Lewis J. Stadlen The Man Who Came to Dinner Banjo 2002 Frank Langella Fortune's Fool Flegont Alexandrovitch Tropatchov Will LeBow Nocturne Father Brian Murray The Crucible Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth Keith Nobbs Four June Sam Robards The Man Who Had All the Luck Gustav Eberson David Warner Major Barbara Andrew Undershaft 2003 Denis O'Hare Take Me Out Mason Marzak Simon Russell Beale Twelfth Night Malvolio Walter Bobbie Polish Joke Various Characters Philip Seymour Hoffman Long Day's Journey into Night James "Jamie", Jr. T. R. Knight Scattergood Brendan Hillard Frederick Weller Take Me Out Shane Mungitt 2004 Ned Beatty Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Big Daddy Michael Berry Moby Dick Starbuck André De Shields Prymate Graham Aidan Gillen The Caretaker Mick John Lithgow Mrs. Farnsworth Mr. Farnsworth Corey Stoll Intimate Apparel Mr. Marks 2005 Michael Stuhlbarg The Pillowman Michal Philip Bosco Twelve Angry Men Juror 3 Larry Bryggman Romance The Judge Jeff Goldblum The Pillowman Tupolski Josh Hamilton Hurlyburly Mickey Paul Sparks Orange Flower Water Brad 2006 Samuel Barnett The History Boys David Posner Devon Abner The Trip to Bountiful Ludie Watts Dominic Cooper The History Boys Dakin Jason Butler Harner The Paris Letter Young Anton / Burt Sarris Stephen Campbell Moore The History Boys Irwin David Pittu Celebration and The Room Mr. Sands / Waiter 2007 Boyd Gaines Journey's End Lieut. Osborne Anthony Chisholm Radio Golf Elder Joseph Barlow Billy Crudup The Coast of Utopia Vissarion Belinsky John Ortiz Jack Goes Boating Clyde Andrew Polk The Accomplices Samuel Merlin / John Pehle / Emanuel Celler Fred Weller Some Men Various Characters 2008 Conleth Hill The Seafarer Ivan Curry John Cullum The Conscientious Objector Lyndon B. Johnson Francis Jue Yellow Face Various Characters Arian Moayed Masked Na'im Jeff Perry August: Osage County Bill Fordham Michael T. Weiss Scarcity Herb 2009 Pablo Schreiber reasons to be pretty Kent Brian d'Arcy James Port Authority Dermot Jeremy Davidson Back Back Back Kent Peter Friedman Body Awareness Frank Ethan Hawke The Winter's Tale Autolycus Jeremy Shamos Animals Out of Paper Andy
2010s