‘The Gilded Age’: Julian Fellowes’ new period drama is exceedingly rich in Tony Award-winning actors

Few television series boast an ensemble as rich as HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” at least in terms of Tony Awards. Julian Fellowes’ new period drama, which takes place in 1882 New York during a period of American industrialization and affluence, was shot predominantly in New York City. It draws on the wealth of theatre performers available due to the pandemic. The result is a cast of Broadway luminaries whose accolades total in the dozens, or 64 nominations and 23 wins, to be exact.

At the center of the action are a pair of two-time Tony winners — Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon — who play sisters Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Brook. These doyennes of old, moneyed New York try to bar the door to the new wealth elbowing their way into high society. Baranski won her first Tony for her performance in Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing,” which featured Nixon as Baranski’s daughter.

The regular cast also includes Tony-nominee Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell, the newly wealthy wife of a robber baron who exemplifies the type of climber Agnes disdains, and Tony-nominee Denée Benton as ambitious writer Peggy Scott, who befriends Agnes’ niece (Louisa Jacobson).  

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The drama’s guest cast is also an embarrassment of stage riches. Most notable is Audra McDonald, the winningest performer in the history of the Tony Awards. McDonald has six Tonys out of nine nominations, including her most recent victory in 2014 for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.” McDonald recurs on the series as Peggy’s estranged mother Dorothy, and she also costars with Baranski on the Paramount+ series “The Good Fight,” for which she recently earned a Critics Choice Award nomination for the show’s fifth season.

“The Gilded Age” features at least 13 other Tony-nominated actors, including three-time winner Nathan Lane and two-time champions Michael Cerveris, Katie Finneran, and Donna Murphy.

Though perhaps best known for their theatre work, “The Gilded Age” ensemble is no stranger to television or the Emmy Awards, either, with five wins out of 35 nominations. Baranski leads the pack with 15 citations for her work on “Cybill,” “Frasier,” “The Good Wife,” and “The Big Bang Theory,” winning once for “Cybill.” Nixon has her beat in terms of trophies with two wins for “Sex and the City” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and three other nominations.

McDonald won an Emmy for “Live from Lincoln Center,” and guest actress Debra Monk also has a trophy for “NYPD Blue.” Other Emmy-nominated cast members include Coon, Kelli O’Hara, Lane, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Below, see a list of all 64 Tony Award nominations and 23 wins earned by the “Gilded Age” cast:

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Christine Baranski – 2 wins for “The Real Thing” (1984) and “Rumors” (1989)

Denée Benton – 1 nomination for “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” (2017)

Michael Cerveris – 2 wins for “Assassins” (2004) and “Fun Home” (2015), plus 4 nominations for “The Who’s Tommy” (1993), “Sweeney Todd” (2006), “Lovemusik” (2007), and “Evita” (2012)

Carrie Coon – 1 nomination for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (2013)

Linda Emond – 3 nominations for “Life (x) 3” (2003), “Death of a Salesman” (2012), and “Cabaret” (2014)

Katie Finneran – 2 wins for “Noises Off” (2002) and “Promises, Promises” (2010)

Bill Irwin – 1 win for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (2005), plus 4 nominations for “Largely New York” as an actor, playwright, director, and choreographer (1989)

Celia Keenan-Bolger – 1 win for “To Kill a Mockingbird” (2019), plus 3 nominations for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (2005), “Peter and the Starcatcher” (2012), and “The Glass Menagerie” (2014)

Nathan Lane – 3 wins for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1996), “The Producers” (2001), and “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika,” plus 3 nominations for “Guys and Dolls” (1992), “The Nance” (2013), and “The Front Page” (2017)

Audra McDonald – 6 wins for “Carousel” (1994), “Master Class” (1996), “Ragtime” (1998), “A Raisin in the Sun” (2004), “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” (2012), and “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” (2014), plus 3 nominations for “Marie Christine” (2000), “110 in the Shade” (2007), and “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” (2020)

Debra Monk – 1 win for “Redwood Curtain” (1993), plus 3 nominations for “Picnic” (1994), “Steel Pier” (1997), and “Curtains” (2007)

Donna Murphy – 2 wins for “Passion” (1994) and “The King and I” (1996), plus 3 nominations for “Wonderful Town” (2004), “Lovemusik” (2007), and “The People in the Picture” (2011)

Kristine Nielsen – 2 nominations for “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” (2013) and “Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus” (2019)

Cynthia Nixon – 2 wins for “Rabbit Hole” (2006) and “The Little Foxes” (2017), plus 2 nominations for “Indiscretions” (1995) and “Wit” (2012)

Kelli O’Hara – 1 win for “The King and I” (2015), plus 6 nominations for “The Light in the Piazza” (2005), “The Pajama Game” (2006), “South Pacific” (2008), “Nice Work If You Can Get It” (2012), “The Bridges of Madison County” (2014), and “Kiss Me, Kate” (2019)

Patrick Page – 1 nomination for “Hadestown” (2019)

Douglas Sills – 1 nomination for “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (1998)

John Douglas Thompson – 1 nomination for “Jitney” (2017)