The journey to the Tony Awards begins all the way back in school鈥攁fter all, someone needs to train tomorrow's theatre artists. If you're curious to know where the 2025 Tony Award nominees received their theatre education (or if they pursued formal education in their craft at all), 半岛体育 has you covered! We've compiled a list of the three schools who count the most Tony nominees as alumni.
For the purpose of this ranking, we counted both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, so you may see a nominee counted more than once on this list. We combed interviews (published on 半岛体育 and beyond), artist's websites and bios, and publicly-available actor r茅sum茅s for college attendance data.
Though if you're a young theatre artist unsure of the next steps to take, please note that 18 Tony nominees either did not attend university at all鈥攐r they began a degree, but did not complete it, in order to pursue a career opportunity (as Jasmine Amy Rogers told us in a previous interview). This goes to show that you do not necessarily need a degree to ascend in the industry.
But for anyone curious about where best to pursue education in the arts, take a look at the schools where the 2025 Tony nominees honed their craft below.
1. New York University: Marco Ramirez (Best Book of a Musical, Buena Vista Social Club), Itamar Moses (Best Book of a Musical, Dead Outlaw), Marco Pennette (Best Book of a Musical, Death Becomes Her), Will Aronson (Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations, Maybe Happy Ending), Hue Park (Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Maybe Happy Ending), Daniel Dae Kim (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, Yellow Face), Jessica Hect (Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, Eureka Day), Marsha Ginsberg (Best Scenic Design of a Play, English), Arnulfo Maldonado (Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Buena Vista Social Club), Brenda Abbandandolo (Best Costume Design of a Play, Good Night, and Good Luck), Gregg Barnes (Best Costume Design of a Musical, BOOP! The Musical), Clint Ramos (Best Costume Design of a Musical, Maybe Happy Ending), Paul Tazewell (Best Costume Design of a Musical, Death Becomes Her), Natasha Katz (Best Lighting Design of a Play, John Proctor is the Villain), Dan Moses Schreier (Best Sound Design of a Musical, Floyd Collins), Sam Pinkleton (Best Direction of a Play, Oh, Mary!)
2. Yale: Itamar Moses (Best Book of a Musical, Dead Outlaw), Francis Jue (Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, Yellow Face), Jeb Brown (Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Dead Outlaw), Scott Pask (Best Scenic Design of a Play, Good Night, and Good Luck), Derek McLane (Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Death Becomes Her, Just in Time), Dede Ayite (Best Costume Design of a Musical, Buena Vista Social Club), Catherine Zuber (Best Costume Design of a Musical, Just in Time), Hannah Wasileski (Best Lighting Design of a Play, John Proctor is the Villain), Scott Zielinski (Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Floyd Collins), Palmer Hefferan (Best Sound Design of a Play, John Proctor is the Villain), Daniel Kluger (Best Sound Design of a Play, Good Night, and Good Luck), Andrew Resnick (Best Orchestrations, Just in Time)
3. Julliard: Audra McDonald (Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, Gypsy), Javier D铆as (Special Tony Award, Buena Vista Social Club), Gabriel Ebert (Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, John Proctor is the Villain), Dan Moses Schreier (Best Sound Design of a Musical, Floyd Collins), Michael Arden (Best Direction of a Musical, Maybe Happy Ending), Michael Thurber (Best Orchestrations, Just in Time)
Honorable mentions: Those aren't the only schools attended by Tony nominees. Other schools that didn't make this ranking, but who do have a few nominees represented at this year's Tony Award include: National Institute of Dramatic Art (4 nominees), University of Warwick (3), Carnegie Mellon (3), Columbia University (3), University of Michigan (3).
Please contact [email protected] for any corrections or additions.
Nominations for the Tonys' competitive categories were revealed May 1, with Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her, and Maybe Happy Ending sharing the distinction of being the most nominated shows of the season, each earning 10 nods. See the full list of nominees here.
Winners will be named at The 78th Annual Tony Awards, set to broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall June 8, beginning at 8 PM ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. Wicked film star and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo will host the evening.
Darren Criss, a 2025 Tony nominee for his performance in Maybe Happy Ending, and Hamilton Tony winner Goldsberry will host The Tony Awards: Act One, the live pre-show preceding the 78th Annual Tony Awards. The Tony Awards: Act One will be available to viewers for free on Pluto TV beginning June 8 at 6:40 PM and continuing until 8 PM.
The Tony Awards are produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, and White Cherry Entertainment. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss are executive producers and showrunners for White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will serve as director.
The American Theatre Wing鈥檚 Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At the Broadway League, Kristin Caskey is chair, and Jason Laks is president. At the American Theatre Wing, Emilio Sosa is chair, and Heather Hitchens is president and CEO.
Visit 半岛体育.com/Tonys.
