Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee Make Tony Award History as First Nonbinary Winners
For their respective roles in ‘Shucked’ and ‘Some Like It Hot.’
Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee have made history as the first nonbinary performers to win a Tony Award.
Newell, who goes by he/she/they pronouns, won best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical for Broadway’s original musical Shucked. Meanwhile, Harrison Ghee won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for Some Like It Hot.
In May, both actors previously made history for being the first openly nonbinary actors nominated in Tony Awards history.
In April, Newell spoke about the significance of using the “genderless” term actor in a category. “When I say I’m an actor, I mean that is my profession, the craft that I studied, the craft that I’m doing,” they told Variety at the time. “Everyone who does acting is an actor. That is genderless.”
The Shucked actor continued, “I appreciate that the categories are separate to give cis women, and women in general, an actual fighting chance to win awards in such a male-dominated field. If we can create that, we can create more lanes for other people who don’t want to stick to those two categories.”
Congratulations to both Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee.
