Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
2024 Recipient: Haydn Gwynne
Awarded for	Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Location	England
Presented by	Society of London Theatre
First awarded	1977
Currently held by	Haydn Gwynne for When Winston Went to War with the Wireless (2024)
Website	officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The Oliviers were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

This award was first given in 1977, then was replaced in 1985 by the commingled actor/actress Best Performance in a Supporting Role, which replaced the 1977 to 1984 pair of Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role awards. From 1991 to 2012, the general supporting category vacillated at random between the commingled singular award (presented for 12 different seasons) and the pair of awards (presented for the other 11 seasons); the commingled award was last given in 2012, and the split pair of Best Actor and Best Actress awards have been presented every year since.

Winners and nominees

Gwen Watford won for Present Laughter (1981)

Anna Massey won for The Importance of Being Earnest (1982)

1970s

Year	Actress	Play	Character
1977
	Mona Washbourne	Stevie	Aunt
	Constance Chapman	Just Between Ourselves	Marjorie
	Anna Manahan	The Plough and the Stars	Bessie
	Elizabeth Spriggs	Volpone	Lady Would-Be
1978
	Elizabeth Spriggs	Love Letters on Blue Paper	Sonia Marsden
	Brenda Bruce	The Lady's Not for Burning	Alizon Eliot
	Susan Fleetwood	The Woman	Ismene
	Patricia Hayes	Filumena	Rosalia
1979
	Doreen Mantle	Death of a Salesman	Linda
	Carmen du Sautoy	Once in a Lifetime	Miss Leighton
	Alison Fiske	For Services Rendered	Evie
	Patricia Routledge	And a Nightingale Sang	Peggy Stott

1980s

Year	Actress	Play	Character
1980
	Suzanne Bertish	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Fanny Squeers
	Lynn Dearth	The Greeks	Electra
	Prunella Scales	Make and Break	Mrs. Rogers
	Susan Tracy	Three Sisters	Natalya Ivanova
1981
	Gwen Watford	Present Laughter	Monica Reed
	Brenda Bruce	Romeo and Juliet	Nurse
	Sinéad Cusack	As You Like It	Celia
	Gwen Taylor	Hamlet	Gertrude
1982
	Anna Massey	The Importance of Being Earnest	Miss Prism
	Nicola Blackman	Destry Rides Again	Clara
	Sheila Hancock	The Winter's Tale	Paulina
	Carole Hayman	Top Girls	Dull Gret
1983
	Abigail McKern	As You Like It	Celia
	Kate Buffery	Daisy Pulls It Off	Clare Beaumont
	Sylvia Coleridge	Clay	Em
	Barbara Leigh-Hunt	Pack of Lies	Helen Kroger
1984
	Marcia Warren	Stepping Out	Vera
	Clare Higgins	A Streetcar Named Desire	Stella Kowalski
	Sophie MgCina	Poppie Nongena	Poppie's Mother
	Zoë Wanamaker	The Time of Your Life	Kitty Duval

1990s

Frances de la Tour won for When She Danced (1991)

Year	Actress	Play	Character
1991
	Sara Crowe	Private Lives	Sybil
	Maria Miles	The Wild Duck	Hedvig
	Anita Reeves	Dancing at Lughnasa	Maggie
	Zoë Wanamaker	The Crucible	Elizabeth Proctor
1992
	Frances de la Tour	When She Danced	Miss Belzer
	Eileen Atkins	The Night of the Iguana	Hannah
	Clare Higgins	Napoli Milionaria	Amalia Jovine
	Lesley Sharp	Uncle Vanya	Sonya
1993
	Barbara Leigh-Hunt	An Inspector Calls	Sybil Birling
	Annette Badland	The Rise and Fall of Little Voice	Sadie
	Elizabeth Bradley	Billy Liar	Florence Boothroyd
	Rosemary Harris	Lost in Yonkers	Grandma Kurnitz
1994
	Helen Burns	The Last Yankee	Karen Frick
	Rosemary Leach	Separate Tables	Mrs Railton-Bell
	Sandy McDade	The Life of Stuff	Janice
	Sophie Thompson	Wildest Dreams	Marcie Banks
1995
	Dora Bryan	The Birthday Party	Meg
	Samantha Bond	Le Cid	Infanta
	Brid Brennan	Rutherford and Son	Janet
	Kathryn Hunter	Pericles, Prince of Tyre	Master of Play
1997[1]
	Deborah Findlay	Stanley	Hilda
	Frances Barber	Uncle Vanya	Sonya
	Anna Chancellor	Stanley	Patricia
	Clare Holman	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Honey

2000s

Year	Actress	Play	Character
2000
	Patricia Hodge	Money	Lady Franklin
	Anne-Marie Duff	Collected Stories	Lisa
	Estelle Kohler	The Winter's Tale	Paulina
	Kika Markham	A Song at Twilight	Hilde
2001
	Pauline Flanagan	Dolly West's Kitchen	Rima West
	Gillian Barge	Passion Play	Agnes
	Catherine McCormack	All My Sons	Ann
	Marcia Warren	In Flame	Annie / Gramma
2002
	Marcia Warren	Humble Boy	Mercy Lott
	Brid Brennan	The Little Foxes	Birdie
	Emma Fielding	Private Lives	Sibyl
	Lyndsey Marshal	Boston Marriage	Catherine

2010s

Ruth Wilson won for A Streetcar Named Desire (2010)

Sharon D. Clarke won for The Amen Corner (2014)

Angela Lansbury won for Blithe Spirit (2015)

Judi Dench won for The Winter's Tale (2016)

Noma Dumezweni won for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2017)

Year	Actress	Play	Character
2010
	Ruth Wilson	A Streetcar Named Desire	Stella Kowalski
	Hayley Atwell	A View from the Bridge	Catherine Carbone
	Michelle Dockery	Burnt by the Sun	Maroussia
	Alexandra Gilbreath	Twelfth Night	Olivia
	Keira Knightley	The Misanthrope	Jennifer / Célimène
	Rachael Stirling	The Priory	Rebecca
2011
	Michelle Terry	Tribes	Sylvia
	Sarah Goldberg	Clybourne Park	Betsy / Lindsey
	Anastasia Hille	The Master Builder	Aline Solness
	Gina McKee	King Lear	Goneril
	Rachael Stirling	An Ideal Husband	Lady Chiltern
2013
	Nicola Walker	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Judy
	Janie Dee	NSFW	Miranda
	Anastasia Hille	The Effect	Dr. Lorna
	Cush Jumbo	Julius Caesar	Mark Antony
	Helen McCrory	The Last of the Haussmans	Libby
2014
	Sharon D. Clarke	The Amen Corner	Odessa
	Sarah Greene	The Cripple of Inishmaan	Slippy Helen
	Katherine Kingsley	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Helena
	Cecilia Noble	The Amen Corner	Sister Moore
2015
	Angela Lansbury	Blithe Spirit	Madame Arcati
	Jamie Adler, Zoe Brough, Perdita Hibbins and Isabella Pappas	The Nether	Iris
	Phoebe Fox	A View from the Bridge	Catherine Carbone
	Lydia Wilson	King Charles III	Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
2016
	Judi Dench	The Winter's Tale	Paulina
	Michele Dotrice	Nell Gwynn	Nancy
	Melody Grove	Farinelli and the King	Isabella Farnese
	Catherine Steadman	Oppenheimer	Jean Tatlock
2017
	Noma Dumezweni	Harry Potter and the Cursed Child	Hermione Granger
	Melissa Allan, Caroline Deyga, Kirsty Findlay, Karen Fishwick, Kirsty MacLaren, Frances Mayli McCann, Joanne McGuinness and Dawn Sievewright	Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour	Various Characters
	Clare Foster	Travesties	Cecily Carruthers
	Kate O'Flynn	The Glass Menagerie	Laura Wingfield
2018
	Denise Gough	Angels in America	Harper Pitt
	Bríd Brennan	The Ferryman	Aunt Maggie Far Away
	Dearbhla Molloy	The Ferryman	Aunt Pat
	Imogen Poots	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Honey
2019
	Monica Dolan	All About Eve	Karen Richards
	Susan Brown	Home, I'm Darling	Sylvia
	Cecilia Noble	Nine Night	Aunt Maggie
	Vanessa Redgrave	The Inheritance	Margaret

2020s

Indira Varma won for Present Laughter (2020)

Anjana Vasan won for A Streetcar Named Desire (2023)

Year	Actress	Play	Character
2020
	Indira Varma	Present Laughter	Liz Essendine
	Michele Austin	Cyrano de Bergerac	Leila Ragueneau
	Sophie Thompson	Present Laughter	Monica Reed
	Josie Walker	The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Old Mrs Hempstock
2021	Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic[A]
2022[A]
	Liz Carr	The Normal Heart	Dr. Emma Brookner
	Tori Burgess	Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)	Lydia Bennet
	Christina Gordon	Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)	Jane Bennet
	Akiya Henry	The Tragedy of Macbeth	Lady Macduff
2023
	Anjana Vasan	A Streetcar Named Desire	Stella Kowalski
	Rose Ayling-Ellis	As You Like It	Celia
	Pamela Nomvete	To Kill a Mockingbird	Calpurnia
	Caroline Quentin	Jack Absolute Flies Again	Mrs Malaprop
	Sharon Small	Good	Helen
2024
	Haydn Gwynne[B]	When Winston Went to War with the Wireless	Stanley Baldwin
	Lorraine Ashbourne	Till the Stars Come Down	Aunty Carol
	Priyanga Burford	An Enemy of the People	Aslaksen
	Gina McKee	Dear England	Pippa Grange
	Tanya Reynolds	A Mirror	Mei

1. Due to late March 2020^[2] to late July 2021^[3] closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022^[4]
2. Posthumous nomination

See also

• Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress
• Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

References

1. "1997 Laurence Olivier Awards". westendtheatre.com. 1997. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
2. Johnson, The Rt Hon Boris, MP (2020-03-23). Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 23 March 2020 [transcript] (Speech). Prime Minister's Televised Speech to the United Kingdom. www.gov.uk. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2022-04-25. From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.
3. McPhee, Ryan (2021-06-14). "U.K. Postpones Reopening Roadmap; West End Theatres Will No Longer Reopen in Full in June". Playbill. Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.
4. Thomas, Sophie (2022-03-08). "Everything you need to know about the Olivier Awards". londontheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2022-04-25. Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.

• London Theatre Guide (2008). "The Laurence Olivier Awards: Full List of Winners, 1976-2008" (.PDF). 1976-2008. The Society of London Theatre. p. 20. Retrieved 2008-08-30.

External links

• Official website