| Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role | |
|---|---|
2025 Recipient:Romola Garai | |
| Awarded for | Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
| Location | |
| Presented by | Society of London Theatre |
| First award | 1977 |
| Currently held by | Romola Garai forThe Years (2025) |
| Website | officiallondontheatre |
TheLaurence Olivier Award forBest Actress in a Supporting Role is an annual award presented by theSociety of London Theatre in recognition of achievements inprofessional London theatre. The Oliviers were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in1976, and renamed in1984 in honour of English actor and directorLaurence Olivier.
This award was first given in1977, then was replaced in1985 by the commingled actor/actressBest Performance in a Supporting Role, which replaced the 1977 to 1984 pair of Best Actress in a Supporting Role andBest Actor in a Supporting Role awards.
From1991 to2012, the general supporting category vacillated at random between the commingled singular award (presented for 12 different seasons) and the pair of awards (presented for the other 11 seasons); the commingled award was last given in 2012, and the split pair of Best Actor and Best Actress awards have been presented every year since.
Dame Angela Lansbury is the oldest recipient of this award when she won at the age of 90 for her role as Madame Arcati in the revival ofNoël Coward's comedy playBlythe Spirit in 2015. The following yearDame Judi Dench won at the age of the age of 82 for her role as Paulina in theWilliam Shakespeare revivalThe Winter's Tale in 2016.Romola Garai was nominated twice the same year in the same category for her roles as Annie inThe Years and Jessica Stone inGiant winning for the former at the2025 Laurence Olivier Awards.


| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | |||
| Mona Washbourne | Stevie | Aunt | |
| Constance Chapman | Just Between Ourselves | Marjorie | |
| Anna Manahan | The Plough and the Stars | Bessie | |
| Elizabeth Spriggs | Volpone | Lady Would-Be | |
| 1978 | |||
| Elizabeth Spriggs | Love Letters on Blue Paper | Sonia Marsden | |
| Brenda Bruce | The Lady's Not for Burning | Alizon Eliot | |
| Susan Fleetwood | The Woman | Ismene | |
| Patricia Hayes | Filumena | Rosalia | |
| 1979 | |||
| Doreen Mantle | Death of a Salesman | Linda | |
| Carmen du Sautoy | Once in a Lifetime | Miss Leighton | |
| Alison Fiske | For Services Rendered | Evie | |
| Patricia Routledge | And a Nightingale Sang | Peggy Stott |
| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | |||
| Suzanne Bertish | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Fanny Squeers | |
| Lynn Dearth | The Greeks | Electra | |
| Prunella Scales | Make and Break | Mrs. Rogers | |
| Susan Tracy | Three Sisters | Natalya Ivanova | |
| 1981 | |||
| Gwen Watford | Present Laughter | Monica Reed | |
| Brenda Bruce | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | |
| Sinéad Cusack | As You Like It | Celia | |
| Gwen Taylor | Hamlet | Gertrude | |
| 1982 | |||
| Anna Massey | The Importance of Being Earnest | Miss Prism | |
| Nicola Blackman | Destry Rides Again | Clara | |
| Sheila Hancock | The Winter's Tale | Paulina | |
| Carole Hayman | Top Girls | Dull Gret | |
| 1983 | |||
| Abigail McKern | As You Like It | Celia | |
| Kate Buffery | Daisy Pulls It Off | Clare Beaumont | |
| Sylvia Coleridge | Clay | Em | |
| Barbara Leigh-Hunt | Pack of Lies | Helen Kroger | |
| 1984 | |||
| Marcia Warren | Stepping Out | Vera | |
| Clare Higgins | A Streetcar Named Desire | Stella Kowalski | |
| Sophie MgCina | Poppie Nongena | Poppie's Mother | |
| Zoë Wanamaker | The Time of Your Life | Kitty Duval |

| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | |||
| Sara Crowe | Private Lives | Sybil | |
| Maria Miles | The Wild Duck | Hedvig | |
| Anita Reeves | Dancing at Lughnasa | Maggie | |
| Zoë Wanamaker | The Crucible | Elizabeth Proctor | |
| 1992 | |||
| Frances de la Tour | When She Danced | Miss Belzer | |
| Eileen Atkins | The Night of the Iguana | Hannah | |
| Clare Higgins | Napoli milionaria [it] | Amalia Jovine | |
| Lesley Sharp | Uncle Vanya | Sonya | |
| 1993 | |||
| Barbara Leigh-Hunt | An Inspector Calls | Sybil Birling | |
| Annette Badland | The Rise and Fall of Little Voice | Sadie | |
| Elizabeth Bradley | Billy Liar | Florence Boothroyd | |
| Rosemary Harris | Lost in Yonkers | Grandma Kurnitz | |
| 1994 | |||
| Helen Burns | The Last Yankee | Karen Frick | |
| Rosemary Leach | Separate Tables | Mrs Railton-Bell | |
| Sandy McDade | The Life of Stuff | Janice | |
| Sophie Thompson | Wildest Dreams | Marcie Banks | |
| 1995 | |||
| Dora Bryan | The Birthday Party | Meg | |
| Samantha Bond | Le Cid | Infanta | |
| Brid Brennan | Rutherford and Son | Janet | |
| Kathryn Hunter | Pericles, Prince of Tyre | Master of Play | |
| 1997[1] | |||
| Deborah Findlay | Stanley | Hilda | |
| Frances Barber | Uncle Vanya | Sonya | |
| Anna Chancellor | Stanley | Patricia | |
| Clare Holman | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Honey |
| Year | Actress | Play | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | |||
| Patricia Hodge | Money | Lady Franklin | |
| Anne-Marie Duff | Collected Stories | Lisa | |
| Estelle Kohler | The Winter's Tale | Paulina | |
| Kika Markham | A Song at Twilight | Hilde | |
| 2001 | |||
| Pauline Flanagan | Dolly West's Kitchen | Rima West | |
| Gillian Barge | Passion Play | Agnes | |
| Catherine McCormack | All My Sons | Ann | |
| Marcia Warren | In Flame | Annie / Gramma | |
| 2002 | |||
| Marcia Warren | Humble Boy | Mercy Lott | |
| Brid Brennan | The Little Foxes | Birdie | |
| Emma Fielding | Private Lives | Sibyl | |
| Lyndsey Marshal | Boston Marriage | Catherine |







From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.
{{cite speech}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Step 4 of the roadmap will allow productions to play without capacity restrictions. June 21 was the goal; now, the government is eyeing July 19.
Any new production that opened between 19 Feb. 2020 to 22 Feb. 2022 are eligible for categories in the 2022 Olivier Awards. With two years worth of shows set for honours in one year's ceremony, the 2022 Olivier Awards will prove tougher competition than before.