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The 2025 Tony Award winner for Best Leading Actor in a Play is from Clatskanie, Ore., a small town near the Columbia River Gorge. Cole Escola, 38, is the playwright and star of the Broadway play Oh, Mary!, which won two out of its five nominations at the June 8 Tony Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Escola is the first openly nonbinary artist to win the best actor award, according to Playbill. They accepted their award in a slinky, ice-blue corset-top gown inspired by Bernadette Peters’ 1999 Tony Awards look, they said on the red carpet.
During Escola’s acceptance speech, they thanked their friends, their mom (“Hi, Mom. I love you. I’ll call you when I can”), Amy Sedaris and all of their fellow nominees in the category. The other nominees were George Clooney, Jon Michael Hill, Daniel Dae Kim, Harry Lennix and Louis McCartney.
“It’s an honor to be in your company, and more than that, it’s been a sincere pleasure spending time with you over these warm salads at all these lunches,” Escola said.
In addition to Escola’s award for Best Leading Actor in a Play, Oh, Mary! won the Tony for Best Direction of a Play for Sam Pinkleton.
Oh, Mary! is a one-act comedy, written by Escola, that delves into the life and dreams of Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. She wants to be a cabaret star. “Unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires abound,” according to the play’s official description, which paints Mary Todd Lincoln as “miserable” and “suffocated.” Oh, Mary! is Escola’s Broadway debut.
Oh, Mary! has been widely praised, including by the New York Times (“one of the best comedies in years”), Entertainment Weekly (“the funniest play on Broadway”) and the Hollywood Reporter (“a theatrical sensation.”)
Escola will continue to play the title role on Broadway through June 21, after which Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) will take over. The play is scheduled to run at the Lyceum Theatre through Sept. 28.