Jodie Comer has scooped the Tony Award for best leading actress for her performance in the one-woman play Prima Facie. 

The role was her Broadway debut, coming hot on the heels of her West End debut in the same role.

The live cinema version of the show – part of National Theatre Live series – broke records as the highest-grossing event cinema release in the UK and Ireland.

Comer called her Tony win “surreal” after a run that had been “just been about putting one foot in front of the other”.

She was forced to halt a performance last week after experiencing breathing difficulties due to polluted air caused by wildfires in Canada.

The play explores how sexual assault laws fail survivors, putting a defence lawyer in the witness box.

Speaking about her character Tessa, Comer said: “This woman in this play has been my greatest teacher and I have to thank Suzie Miller for that, who wrote this magnificent piece.

“Without her writing that, [I] would not be here so this feels just as much Suzie’s as it is mine.”

The actress went on to thank members of the production team and apologised to her friends and family for being “absent” in the past year.

“To every person who feels represented by Tessa, this has been my greatest honour,” she said, quickly adding “and it continues to be – there’s three weeks left!”

The award was presented at a show that was unscripted due to the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike.

Opening the show, host Ariana DeBose told audiences to “buckle up” after warning them the show would be completely unscripted.

The strike, involving more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), had previously threatened to derail the show.

The WGA previously agreed to a waiver for the show, so that its members would not picket the event and allow the broadcast on US network CBS to go ahead.

Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee made history as the first non-binary actors to be recognised at the awards.

Other winners included Sean Hayes for his role in Good Night, Oscar, and Victoria Clark for her performance in the musical Kimberly Akimbo.

Kimberly Akimbo was named best musical, while Leopoldstadt won best play.

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