The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress 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 Actress in a Play, along with Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, were replaced in 2023 with the gender neutral category of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play.
Winners and nominees Key
1970s Year Actress Play Character 1975 Frances Sternhagen Equus Dora Strang Polly Adams London Assurance Grace Harkaway Maureen Anderman Seascape Sarah Caroline Lagerfelt The Constant Wife Marie-Louise Durham Carole Shelley Absurd Person Singular Jane Elizabeth Spriggs London Assurance Lady Gay Spanker Marcia Wallace Avon Lady Avon Lady 1976 Rachel Roberts Habeas Corpus Mrs. Wicksteed Toni Darnay The Heiress Mrs. Montgomery Alice Drummond A Memory of Two Mondays Agnes June Havoc Habeas Corpus Mrs. Swabb Kaiulani Lee Kennedy's Children Rona Lynn Ann Leveridge Yentl Hadass 1977 Rosemary De Angelis The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie Mother Joyce Ebert The Shadow Box Maggie Rose Gregorio The Shadow Box Agnes Cecilia Hart Dirty Linen Maddie Patricia Roe The Oldest Living Graduate Maureen Kinkaid Meryl Streep The Cherry Orchard Dunyasha Gretchen Wyler Sly Fox Miss Fancy 1978 Eileen Atkins The Night of the Tribades Marie Caroline David Martha Gaylord The Elusive Angel Bo-Peep Braxton Carol Kane The Effect of Gamma Rays Matilda "Tillie" Hunsdorfer Swoosie Kurtz Uncommon Women and Others Rita Altabel Pamela Reed Curse of the Starving Class Emma 1979 Pamela Reed Getting Out Arlie Dixie Carter Fathers and Sons Martha "Calamity Jane" Canary Frances Foster Nevis Mountain Dew Everalda Philibert Griffin Joan Hickson Bedroom Farce Delia Laurie Kennedy Man and Superman Violet Robinson Susan Littler Bedroom Farce Kate
1980s Year Actress Play Character 1980 Lois de Banzie Morning's at Seven Myrtle Brown Pamela Brook Goodbye Fidel Peggy Sinclair Frances Conroy Othello Desdemona Mia Dillon Once a Catholic Mary Mooney Dianne Wiest The Art of Dining Elizabeth Barrow Colt 1981 Swoosie Kurtz Fifth of July Gwen Landis Fran Brill Knuckle Jenny Carrie Nye The Man Who Came to Dinner Lorraine Sheldon Jean Smart Last Summer at Bluefish Cove Lil Jessica Tandy Rose Rose's Mother Zoë Wanamaker Piaf Tione 1982 Amanda Plummer Agnes of God Agnes Pauline Flanagan Medea The First Woman of Corinth Estelle Getty Torch Song Trilogy Mrs. Beckoff Cheryl Giannini Grown Ups Louise E. Katherine Kerr Cloud Nine Ellen / Mrs. Saunders Aideen O'Kelly Othello Emilia 1983 Judith Ivey Steaming Josie Maureen Anderman You Can't Take It with You Alice Sycamore Dana Ivey Present Laughter Monica Reed Quartermaine's Terms Melanie Garth Kate McGregor-Stewart Beyond Therapy Charlotte Anne Twomey Vieux Carré Jane 1984 Christine Baranski The Real Thing Charlotte Lisa Banes Isn't it Romantic Harriet Cornwall Dody Goodman Ah, Wilderness! Essie Miller Jo Henderson Isn't it Romantic Lillian Cornwall Amy Irving Heartbreak House Ellie Dunn Dianne Wiest Serenading Louie Gabby Other Places Deborah 1985 Judith Ivey Hurlyburly Bonnie Sudie Bond The Foreigner Betty Meeks Joanna Gleason A Day in the Death of Joe Egg Pam Nancy Marchand The Octette Bridge Club Connie Emerson Anne Pitoniak The Octette Bridge Club Martha McDermitt Margaret Tyzack Tom and Viv Rose Robinson Haigh-Wood 1986 Joanna Gleason Social Security Trudy Heyman It's Only a Play Virginia Noyes Elizabeth Berridge Cruise Control Suze Wrestlers Angie Kathryn Grody The Marriage of Bette and Boo Emily Brennan Zoë Wanamaker Loot Fay Ann Wedgeworth A Lie of the Mind Meg 1987 Mary Alice Fences Rose Maxson Suzanne Burden Dangerous Liaisons Madame de Tourvel Jane Carr The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Various Characters Janet Eilber Stepping Out Andy Christine Estabrook North Shore Fish Florence Rizzo Vickilyn Reynolds The Colored Museum Lawanda / Mama 1988 Christine Estabrook The Boys Next Door Sheila Kimberleigh Aarn Joe Turner's Come and Gone Mattie Cambell Frances McDormand A Streetcar Named Desire Stella Kowalski Kimberly Scott Joe Turner's Come and Gone Molly Cunningham 1989 Tovah Feldshuh Lend Me a Tenor Maria Merelli Joanne Camp The Heidi Chronicles Fran / Molly / Betsy / April Margaret Colin Aristocrats Alice Penelope Ann Miller Our Town Emily Webb Alice Playten Spoils of War Emma Holland Taylor The Cocktail Hour Nina
1990s Year Actress Play Character 1990 Frances Conroy The Secret Rapture Marion French Jayne Atkinson The Art of Success Sarah Sprackling Kate Burton Some Americans Abroad Betty McNeil Marcia Jean Kurtz When She Danced Miss Belzer Stephanie Roth Artist Descending a Staircase Sophie 1991 Irene Worth Lost in Yonkers Grandma Kurnitz Jane Adams I Hate Hamlet Deirdre McDavey Tracey Ellis Our Country's Good Lieutenant George Johnston Julie Halston Red Scare on Sunset Pat Pilford Deirdre O'Connell Love and Anger Sarah Downey 1992 Christine Baranski Lips Together, Teeth Apart Chloe Haddock Lisa Emery Marvin's Room Lee Harriet Harris Bella, Bell of Byelorussia Ludmilla / Waitress Laura Linney Sight Unseen Grete Nancy Marchand The End of the Day Rosamund Brackett / Jocelyn Massey 1993 Madeline Kahn The Sisters Rosensweig Gorgeous Teitlebaum Kathleen Chalfant Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Various Characters Marcia Gay Harden Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Various Characters Harriet Harris Jeffrey Ann Marwood Bartle Kathryn Meisle As You Like It Rosalind 1994 Jane Adams An Inspector Calls Sheila Biring Frances Conroy In the Summer House Mrs. Constable Hope Davis Pterodactyls Emma Marcia Gay Harden Angels in America: Perestroika Various Characters Kristen Johnston The Lights Rose 1995 Tara Fitzgerald Hamlet Ophelia Hallie Foote The Horton Foote Plays Performer Penny Fuller Three Viewings Virginia Camryn Manheim Missing Persons Gemma J. Smith-Cameron The Naked Truth Sissy Bermiss Darnley Sheila Tousey Iphigenia and Other Daughters Electra 1996 Elaine Stritch A Delicate Balance Claire Viola Davis Seven Guitars Vera Eileen Heckart Northeast Local Mair Donna Murphy Twelve Dreams Dorothy Trowbridge Roberta Wallach The Model Apartment Debby Amy Wright Mrs. Klein Paula 1997 Dana Ivey Sex and Longing Bridget McCrea The Last Night of Ballyhoo Boo Levy Kathleen Chalfant Nine Armenians Marie Linda Emond Nine Armenians Armine Melissa Errico The Importance of Being Earnest Gwendolen Fairfax Allison Janney Present Laughter Liz Celia Weston The Last Night of Ballyhoo Aunt Reba 1998 Allison Janney A View from the Bridge Beatrice Carbone Patricia Clarkson The Maiden's Prayer Libby Linda Lavin The Diary of Anne Frank Mrs. Van Daan Patti LuPone The Old Neighborhood Jolly Marian Seldes Ivanov Zinaida Savishna Carolyn Seymour Goose-Pimples Jackie 1999 Anna Friel Closer Alice Ayers Viola Davis Everybody's Ruby Ruby McCollum Kristine Nielsen Betty's Summer Vacation Mrs. Siezmagraff Natasha Richardson Closer Anna Marian Seldes Ring Round the Moon Madame Desmermortes Mary Louise Wilson Bosoms and Neglect Henny
2000s Year Actress Play Character 2000 Marylouise Burke Fuddy Meers Gertie Jillian Armenante The Cider House Rules, Part One Melony Seana Kofoed An Experiment with an Air Pump Isobel Bridie Phyllis Newman The Moment When Paula Çiğdem Onat The Time of the Cuckoo Signora Fioria Amy Sedaris The Country Club Froggy 2001 Viola Davis King Hedley II Tonya Anita Durst The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant Marlene Barbara Jefford Coriolanus Volumnia Marthe Keller Judgment at Nuremberg Mrs. Bertholt Marian Seldes The Butterfly Collection Margaret Robin Weigert Madame Melville Ruth 2002 Katie Finneran Noises Off Brooke Ashton Jennifer Coolidge The Women Edith / Mrs. Phelps Potter Kathleen Doyle Kilt Mary Linda Emond Homebody/Kabul The Homebody Elizabeth Franz Morning's at Seven Aaronetta Gibbs Kathleen Widdoes Franny's Way Marjorie 2003 Lynn Redgrave Talking Heads Miss Fozzard Christine Ebersole Talking Heads Irene Jan Maxwell My Old Lady Chloe Giffard Helen McCrory Uncle Vanya Elena Nancy Opel Polish Joke Various Characters Jeanine Serralles Hold Please Jessica 2004 Audra McDonald A Raisin in the Sun Ruth Younger Jayne Houdyshell Well Ann Kron Mikel Sarah Lambert The Daughter-in-Law Mrs. Gascoyne Margo Martindale Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Big Mama Jan Maxwell Sixteen Wounded Sonya Mary Louise Wilson The Beard of Avon Queen Elizabeth I 2005 Adriane Lenox Doubt Mrs. Miller Julie Halston White Chocolate Vivian Beale Somerset Portia McReele Opal Lily Rabe Steel Magnolias Annelle Lee Roy Rogers Orson's Shadow Vivien Leigh Mary Testa String of Pearls Various Characters 2006 Frances de la Tour The History Boys Mrs. Lintott Lisa Emery Abigail's Party Susan Judith Hawking A Soldier's Wife Florence Michele Pawk The Paris Letter Katie Lynn Redgrave The Constant Wife Mrs. Culver Marian Seldes Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams Annabelle Willard 2007 Martha Plimpton The Coast of Utopia Various Characters Myriam Acharki Woyzeck Marie Xanthe Elbrick Coram Boy Alexander Ashbrook / Aaron Sarah Nina Hayon Rearviewmirror Inez Jan Maxwell Coram Boy Mrs. Lynch Rita Wolf The American Pilot Sarah 2008 Linda Lavin The New Century Helene Nadler Elizabeth Ashley Dividing the Estate Stella Johanna Day Peter and Jerry Ann Zoe Kazan 100 Saints You Should Know Abby Rondi Reed August: Osage County Mattie Fae Aiken Marisa Tomei Top Girls Isabella Bird / Joyce / Mrs. Kidd 2009 Angela Lansbury Blithe Spirit Madame Arcati Rebecca Hall The Cherry Orchard Varya Zoe Kazan The Seagull Masha Andrea Martin Exit the King Juliette Carey Mulligan The Seagull Nina Condola Rashad Ruined Sophie
2010s