The Actors’ Equity Foundation, the philanthropic branch of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the union representing professional actors and stage managers, has revealed a slate of recipients of its 2025 awards. The noncompetitive honors recognize performances offered within the 2024-2025 season.
Jessica Hecht and Francis Jue were named winners of the Foundation’s Richard Seff Award, for their respective performances in the revivals of Jonathan Spector’s “Eureka Day” and David Henry Hwang’s “Yellow Face.” The award acknowledges veteran performers, who are over the age of 50 and are a 25-year-plus AEA member, for the best performance in a featured or unfeatured supporting role in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production. Hecht and Jue are current 2025 Tony Award nominees for these performances.
The Clarence Derwent Award, which honors the two most promising performances of the season given by early-career artists, were awarded to Nicholas Barasch and Julia Lester. Barasch was cited for his featured turn in Roundabout Theatre Company’s reconceived “Pirates! The Penzance Musical,” while Lester was honored for her performance in the Off-Broadway play “All Nighter.”
For their respective performances in “Othello” and Off-Broadway’s “Henry IV,” Kimber Elayne Sprawl and Steven Epp received the Joe A. Callaway Award. This honor notes the two best performances in a classical play.
Beyond New York, the Actors’ Equity Foundation awards body also recognizes Los Angeles-based performers with the Michael McCarty Recognition Award. This year, the award goes to Jennifer Leigh Warren.
“These actors may have been in the industry for decades, or for a far shorter time,” said Foundation president Judy Rice in a statement. “The Foundation is proud to celebrate what they share: a demonstration of true commitment to their craft.”
The honorees will be celebrated at a ceremony on June 23 at the Manhattan restaurant Green Fig. The event will also include the presentation of the previously announced humanitarian Paul Robeson Award to Leslie Ishii, as well as the humanitarian Patrick Quinn Award and AEA’s ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus, the recipients of which will be announced.
The performance awards were selected by a panel of judges comprising theater critics Joe Dziemianowicz, Adam Feldman, Elysa Gardner, Harry Haun, Kobi Kassal and Frank Scheck.
