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Tony Veterans
Tony Veterans

The Tonys Won Previously By 2022 Tony Award Acting Nominees

We continue to celebrate this Broadway season, the first since the shutdown, with the Tony Awards providing the ultimate sendoff on June 12. Every year, there are plenty of first-time winners to commemorate. However, in this article, we are shining a light on Broadway acting veterans who have already won a Tony in years past, who are up again for the highest theater honor this year.

Take a look at the many Broadway icons who might just be taking home a second (or third) Tony Award this year.


Chuck Cooper, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Trouble in Mind

Chuck Cooper in Trouble in Mind. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Chuck Cooper in Trouble in Mind. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Chuck Cooper received his second Tony Award nomination this year in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for his performance in Trouble in Mind. If he were to win, he’d have a winning streak, since he won the award for his only other nomination in 1997 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for his work in The Life.


Sutton Foster, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for The Music Man

Sutton Foster in The Music Man. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.
Sutton Foster in The Music Man. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

If you know Sutton Foster, her being on this list of veteran Tony Award winners is no surprise. Foster first had her breakthrough on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, portraying the titular character, which lead to her winning her first Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical in 2002. She won in that same category nearly 10 years later for her 2011 performance in Anything Goes. This year, she is once again nominated for her leading musical performance in The Music Man, 20 years after her first nomination and win.


Jayne Houdyshell, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for The Music Man

Jayne Houdyshell in The Music Man. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.
Jayne Houdyshell in The Music Man. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

Nominated this year for her featured performance in The Music Man, Jayne Houdyshell is a Broadway favorite. With her 2022 nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, she has now been nominated for a Tony five times. Her first and only time winning the award was back in 2016 for her performance in The Humans, a performance she later went on to recreate in the 2021 film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Best Play.


Hugh Jackman, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for The Music Man

Hugh Jackman and the Cast of The Music Man. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.
Hugh Jackman and the Cast of The Music Man. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

In case you haven’t heard or haven’t walked by the giant Winter Garden Theatre marquee, Hugh Jackman is back on Broadway! Jackman is currently starring as Harold Hill in the Tony Award-nominated revival of The Music Man. For his performance, he has received a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, an award he has won before. The “greatest showman” won the award back in 2004 for his performance in The Boy from Oz. He also received a Special Tony Award in 2012 recognizing his work as a performer and as a humanitarian. Not only is Hugh Jackman a Tony Award winner, but he is also a four-time Tony Awards host, having hosted in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2014. This year he’ll leave the hosting duties to Ariana DeBose and focus on being one of the many incredible acting nominees.


LaChanze, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Trouble in Mind

LaChanze in Trouble in Mind. Photo by Joan Marcus.
LaChanze in Trouble in Mind. Photo by Joan Marcus.

LaChanze has received four Tony Award nominations overall, but this year, she is nominated for the first time for performing in a play. Her previous nods were for her work in musicals. LaChanze is nominated this year for her leading performance in the play Trouble in Mind, which is also up for Best Revival of a Play. The actress first won a Tony Award back in 2006, originating the role of Celie in the musical adaption of The Color Purple. Her other nominations came from originating the role of Ti Moune in Once on This Island and for playing the Queen of Disco in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.


Patti LuPone, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Company

Patti LuPone in Company. Photo by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.
Patti LuPone in Company. Photo by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.

Often billed as two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone, the Broadway legend may just add another to that billing. LuPone is nominated for her eighth Tony this year, receiving a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her performance as Joanne in Company. Her two previous wins came for her iconic performances in Evita and Gypsy in 1980 and 2008, respectively.


Mary-Louise Parker, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for How I Learned to Drive

Mary-Louise Parker in How I Learned to Drive. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.
Mary-Louise Parker in How I Learned to Drive. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

The third two-time Tony Award winner on our list, Mary-Louise Parker is up this year for How I Learned to Drive, her fifth nomination. She returns to the role Li’l Bit after originating the role Off-Broadway when the play premiered in 1997. She first won a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play in 2001 for her performance in Proof. Just last year, she won again for her leading performance in The Sound Inside. If she were to add a third award to her mantle this year, she would join Zoe Caldwell and Jessica Tandy in having won three awards in that same category.


Phylicia Rashad, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for Skeleton Crew

Phylicia Rashad in Skeleton Crew. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Phylicia Rashad received her third Tony Award nomination for her performance in Skeleton Crew, playing the featured role of Faye. The play marked the iconic actress’ return to Broadway, last treading the boards in the 2008 production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Rashad first won a Tony Award for her leading performance as Lena Younger in the 2004 revival of Raisin in the Sun.


Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Lackawanna Blues

Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Ruben Santiago-Hudson in Lackawanna Blues. Photo by Marc J. Franklin.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson was a busy man this Broadway season, wearing multiple hats. Serving as Artistic Advisor at Manhattan Theatre Club, he first began their Broadway season directing and starring in Lackawanna Blues, a play that he wrote. He also directed the Broadway premiere of Skeleton Crew, the second show in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway season. Nominated this year for his leading performance in Lackawanna Blues, he first took home a Tony Award for his featured performance in Seven Guitars in 2004.


Julie White, Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for POTUS

Julie White in POTUS. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
Julie White in POTUS. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Julie White is a Tony Awards regular, receiving her fourth nomination this year for her hysterical Featured Performance in a Play, as Harriet in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. She won her Tony Award back when she was nominated for the first time in 2007 for her leading performance as Diane in The Little Dog Laughed.


As previously announced, Academy Award winner and Tony nominee Ariana DeBose will host The 75th Annual Tony Awards, airing live coast-to-coast (8 – 11 p.m. LIVE EST/5 – 8 p.m. PST) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+. Check Broadway Direct all month long for all things Tony Awards.