Tony Awards 2021: Andrew Burnap wins best actor in leading role in play for The Inheritance

Andrew Burnap won the best actor in a leading role in a play in the 74th Tony Awards for his role in “The Inheritance.”

“Congratulations to @McDrewBur of @inheritanceplay, #TonyAwards-winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play. Bravo!” the official Twitter handle of the Awards posted.  

Andrew Burnap has won the Tony for best lead actor in a play on his Broadway debut.

Burnap starred in “The Inheritance,” Matthew Lopez’s two-part, seven-hour epic that uses “Howards End” as a starting point for a play that looks at gay life in the early 21st century. Burnap played Toby Darling — a vivacious, talented, and deeply troubled playwright who unearths childhood demons.

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Burnap grew up in Rhode Island, where during the summer he would work at his local ice cream shop. He graduated from Yale School of Drama, and acted in regional theatres and off-Broadway.

He and Lopez actually met each other before “The Inheritance” when Burnap did Lopez’s play “The Legend of George McBride” in Los Angeles, a happier story about a straight man who learns how to be a drag queen.

This was one of the most intensely contested Tony of the night. For the award, Burnap beat out Blair Underwood from “A Soldier’s Play,” Ian Barford from “Linda Vista,” Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge both from “Sea Wall/A Life” and Tom Hiddleston of “Betrayal.”

The 74th edition of the Tony Awards kicked off on Sunday evening. The awards honoured Broadway musicals and plays that opened during the 2019/20 season. The awards are being hosted by Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr. 

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Sunday’s show was expanded from its typical three hours to four, with Audra McDonald handing out Tonys for the first two hours and Leslie Odom Jr. hosting a “Broadway’s Back!” celebration for the second half, including the awarding of the top three trophies — best play revival, best play and best musical.

The other nominations in the category:

Ian Barford, Linda Vista

Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life

Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal

Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life

Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play

With inputs from the Associated Press