The 2025 Tony Award nominations were unveiled on Thursday, May 1, with some big names absent from the list
Among those who didn’t make the cut were Othello stars Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, as well as Romeo + Juliet star Rachel Zegler
The top categories were announced by Tony winners Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce on CBS Mornings
Nominations for the 2025 Tony Awards have been revealed — and some big names were absent from this year’s list.
Tony winners Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce announced nominations in the top categories during the 8:30 a.m. ET hour of CBS Mornings on Thursday, May 1, with further nominees named in a special 9 a.m. ET stream on YouTube.
Among those shut out from the major acting categories were Othello stars Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, as well as Rachel Zegler, who played Juliet in Romeo + Juliet.
Other snubs included Sutton Foster (Once Upon a Mattress), Robert Downey Jr. (McNeal), Katie Holmes (Our Town), Idina Menzel (Redwood) and Nick Jonas (The Last Five Years).
Also left out were Jim Parsons (Our Town), David Hyde Pierce (Pirates! The Penzance Musical), Helen J. Shen (Maybe Happy Ending), Adrienne Warren (The Last Five Years), Zoey Deutch (Our Town) and Kieran Culkin (Glengarry Glen Ross), as well as David Foster, who wrote the music for BOOP! The Musical, his first-ever foray into the genre.
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Julieta Cervantes; Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal in Othello; Rachel Zegler in Romeo + Juliet
Related: George Clooney and Nicole Scherzinger’s Broadway Debuts Earn Them 2025 Tony Awards Nominations — See the Full List
Those who made the cut this year in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical category include Darren Criss (Maybe Happy Ending), Andrew Durand (Dead Outlaw), Tom Francis (Sunset Blvd.), Jonathan Groff (Just in Time), James Monroe Iglehart (A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical) and Jeremy Jordan (Floyd Collins).
For Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the nominees include Megan Hilty (Death Becomes Her), Audra McDonald (Gypsy), Jasmine Amy Rogers (BOOP! The Musical ), Nicole Scherzinger (Sunset Blvd.) and Jennifer Simard (Death Becomes Her).
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play hopefuls comprise George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck), Cole Escola (Oh, Mary!), Jon Michael Hill (Purpose), Daniel Dae Kim (Yellow Face), Harry Lennix (Purpose) and Louis McCartney (Stranger Things: The First Shadow).
Rounding out the primary acting categories, for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, are Laura Donnelly (The Hills of California), Mia Farrow (The Roommate), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Purpose), Sadie Sink (John Proctor Is the Villain) and Sarah Snook (The Picture of Dorian Gray).
Recognizing excellence in live Broadway performance, the Tony Award is theater’s highest honor.
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Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
George Clooney in New York City on April 3, 2025; Nicole Scherzinger in New York City on June 16, 2024
Related: Broadway Icon Harvey Fierstein Will be Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Tony Awards
Several of this year’s nominees — including Clooney, 63, Scherzinger, 46, Snook, 37, McCartney, 21, Rogers, 26, and Escola, 38 — made their Broadway debuts this season.
Meanwhile, McDonald, 54, cemented her place in the history books at the most Tony-nominated performer of all time. She already has six awards, more than any other actor.
Presented annually by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, the Tony is the “T” in the prestigious quadfecta of the entertainment industry’s achievements known as “EGOT,” sitting alongside the Emmy Awards (television), Grammy Awards (music) and Oscars (film).
The 78th Tony Awards, hosted by Cynthia Erivo, will air live on CBS and stream live on Paramount+ from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 8.
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