The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year." Originally called the Tony Award for Actor, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic), the award was first presented to Arthur Kennedy at the 3rd Tony Awards for his portrayal of Biff Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Before 1956, nominees' names were not made public; the change was made by the awards committee to "have a greater impact on theatregoers". In 1976, when the award's name changed to its current name, Edward Herrmann, portraying Frank Gardner in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession, won the award. Its most recent recipient is Jesse Tyler Ferguson for his performance in Take Me Out. Frank Langella holds the record for having the most wins in this category, with a total of two; he is the only person to win the award more than once. Richard Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross, Phil Hogan in A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Mason Marzac in Take Me Out are the only characters to take the award multiple times, all winning twice. A supporting actor in each of Neil Simon's Eugene trilogy plays (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound) has taken the Tony, whereas featured actors in both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels in America series have also won the award. Recipients Wins total 2 Wins Frank Langella Nominations total 3 Nominations Robert Sean Leonard Joseph Maher Brian Murray 2 Nominations Tom Aldredge Reed Birney Philip Bosco Larry Bryggman Billy Crudup John Glover Michael Gough David Alan Grier George Grizzard John Benjamin Hickey Željko Ivanek Nathan Lane Frank Langella Walter Matthau Biff McGuire Zakes Mokae Brían F. O'Byrne Edward Petherbridge Roger Robinson Tony Shalhoub Courtney B. Vance Dick Anthony Williams Character win total 2 Wins Phil Hogan from A Moon for the Misbegotten Richard Roma from Glengarry Glen Ross Mason Marzac from Take Me Out Character nomination total 3 Nominations Biff Loman from Death of a Salesman James Tyrone, Jr. from Long Day's Journey