--- ---  # There Are 4 Tony Awards for Acting in a Musical. Black Actors Won All 4 by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 13, 2016 3:38 AM UTC  Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Jasmine Cephas Jones perform onstage during the 70th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City. Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Jasmine Cephas Jones perform onstage during the 70th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City.Theo Wargo—Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 13, 2016 3:38 AM UTC The Academy Awards [frequently get slammed for a lack of diversity](http://time.com/4240907/oscars-2016-analysis-winners/), with most acting nominations going to white performers. But on the East Coast, [the Tony Awards](http://time.com/4365681/2016-tony-awards-recap-hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda/?xid=homepage) painted a different picture Sunday night. “Think of tonight’s show as like the Oscars, but with diversity,” host James Corden said at the beginning of the night, and the joke proved true: In each acting category for musicals, a black performer took home the trophy. Leslie Odom, Jr., [Daveed Diggs](http://time.com/4287898/tony-award-hamilton-daveed-diggs-jefferson-lafayette/) and Renée Elise Goldsberry each took home acting awards for their work in the acclaimed musical _Hamilton_, while Cynthia Erivo won for her performance in the revival of _The Color Purple_. In a [tweet](https://twitter.com/TheTonyAwards/status/742192362391146496) on Sunday night, the producers of the Tony’s confirmed it was the first time this had occurred in the award show’s history. As the cast of _Hamilton_ would put it, how lucky we are to be alive right now. Tonys 2016: All 4 Musical Acting Awards Go to Black Actors ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4365793/tony-awards-2016-black-actors-win/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4365793/tony-awards-2016-black-actors-win/"},"headline":"There Are 4 Tony Awards for Acting in a Musical. Black Actors Won All 4","datePublished":"2016-06-13T03:38:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:33:06.286Z","description":"The award show made history with three acting wins for Hamilton and one for The Color Purple","url":"https://time.com/4365793/tony-awards-2016-black-actors-win/","keywords":["Theater"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aef52a691d0c395/69889775ab6d777ff46aa07f/leslie-odom.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aef52a691d0c395/69889775ab6d777ff46aa07f/leslie-odom.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Tony Awards - Show","caption":"2016 Tony Awards - Show","creditText":"Theo Wargo—Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4365793/tony-awards-2016-black-actors-win/","name":"There Are 4 Tony Awards for Acting in a Musical. Black Actors Won All 4"}}]}] ```