For the second time in her already impressive career, Ariana DeBose was selected to host the Tony Awards in 2023. DeBose, who won an Oscar for West Side Story and was a nominee for the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, hosted the 2022 Tony Awards. More recently at the 2023 BAFTA Awards, she performed a viral opening number that included a medley of “We Are Family,” “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,” and an original rap that referenced women nominees at the awards ceremony.
“A force both on and off the stage, Ariana DeBose is unstoppable—an award-winning actress, powerhouse vocalist, and commanding dancer—she is the true definition of ‘triple-threat,'” Heather Hitchens, American Theatre Wing president and CEO said. “We are thrilled to welcome back one of Broadway’s brightest lights to dazzle, inspire, and illuminate this year’s Tony Awards!”
Brock Pemberton, a theater director and friend of the Tony Awards namesake Antoinette Perry, hosted the first-ever awards ceremony in 1947. Here is a look at some of the more recent Tony Awards hosts.
Neil Patrick Harris
One of two people to host the Tony Awards four times in the 21st century, Neil Patrick Harris hosted the awards ceremony in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Known for TV roles such as Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother and the titular teenage doctor on Doogie Howser, M.D., Harris has extensive theater experience and has appeared in Broadway productions dating back to Cabaret in 1998. His other credits include Assassins (2004), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), and Peter Pan Goes Wrong (2023).
Considered one of the best awards show hosts in modern times, Harris consistently over-delivers while impressing audiences with his charm, wit, and overall stage presence. Unconventionally, he chose not to do an opening number in 2009 and instead waited until the end of the show to sing a humorous recap of the ceremony to the tune of West Side Story‘s “Tonight” and Guys and Dolls‘ “Luck Be a Lady.”
In 2011, Harris opened the show with another humorous song (“It’s Not Just For Gays Anymore”) that focused on Broadway’s increasingly mainstream appeal. His performance of “Bigger,” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, in 2013 was especially memorable. Harris has won three Emmy Awards for hosting the Tonys.
Hugh Jackman
Also a four-time Tony Awards host, Hugh Jackman hosted for three consecutive years from 2003-05 and again in 2014. Like Harris, Jackman is perhaps more broadly known for his work outside of the theater, especially as Wolverine in the X-Men movie franchise, but he has an impressive stage career and even won a Tony Award for The Boy From Oz. He also starred as Jean Valjean in the 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables. The 54-year-old Australian’s other theater credits include Oklahoma! (1998), Carousel (2002), A Steady Rain (2009), and The Music Man (2022).
Jackman won an Emmy for hosting the 2004 Tony Awards, at which he performed the “One Night Only” opening number, and earned another Emmy for hosting the 81st Annual Academy Awards in 2009. At the 2011 Tonys, he performed a memorable “Dueling Hosts” number with Harris.
James Corden
James Corden, whose late-night talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden concluded an eight-year run in April 2023, hosted the Tony Awards for the first time in 2016 and put on a fantastic show. He famously detailed his love and passion for theater in a musical medley with numbers from Broadway shows like Fiddler on the Roof, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Annie. He won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program the following year. Corden also hosted the 73rd Annual Tony Awards in 2019.
Corden grew up in the United Kingdom and garnered several stage credits before moving to the United States. His West End credits include Martin Guerre (1996), which was his stage debut, and One Man, Two Guvnors (2011), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He also starred on Broadway in The History Boys (2006).
Josh Groban
The Tony Awards have had co-hosts four times in the 21st century. Musician Josh Groban co-hosted with Sara Bareilles in 2018 and opened with a tongue-in-cheek number dedicated to the losers in the crowd while acknowledging their own inability to win awards: “This is for the people who lose / Both of us have been in your shoes / This one’s for the loser inside of you / This is for the people who don’t get to take the trophy home.”
Bareilles received a Tony nomination for her lyric work in Waitress and Groban garnered an acting nomination for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.
Kristin Chenoweth
In 2015 Kristin Chenoweth co-hosted the Tony Awards with fellow Broadway star Alan Cumming. Chenoweth was nominated that year for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, but the award went to Kelli O’Hara for her performance as Anna Leonowens in The King and I. Chenoweth’s joking fist shake to O’Hara was a standout moment of Broadway sportsmanship.