The boy who lived is now the boy with a Tony. Daniel Radcliffe, best known for his role as the titular character in the Harry Potter film series, landed his first Tony Award on Sunday’s (Jun 16) award show for the best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical for his leading role in Merrily We Roll Along.
The musical, which is a revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1981 musical about how three friends’ lives and friendship change over the course of 20 years, saw Radcliffe playing one of the three leads – lyricist and playwright Charley Kringas.
Radcliffe’s award at the 77th annual Tony Awards was also his first Tony nomination since making his Broadway debut in 2008, and his first major acting award. The Tony Awards is considered one of America’s four major entertainment awards, along with the Emmy, Grammy and Oscar awards, and is dedicated to recognising Broadway theatre performances.
Since ending his decade-long run as Harry Potter from age 11 to 21, Radcliffe has found “a new kind of success”, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He took to the stage and starred in several indie films, receiving his first Emmy nomination in 2023 for his portrayal of Weird Al Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
After accepting his Tony, Radcliffe told reporters backstage how he felt about the accomplishment after his long career playing Harry Potter.
“When I finished (Harry Potter), I had no idea what my career was going to be. I’d already started doing some stage stuff, but I didn’t know what the future held at all,” he said.
“Playing one character for a very long time builds up in you a desire to like, do as many things as you possibly can. So yeah, I’m doing that right now, which is awesome.”