With his win on Monday at the Critics’ Circle Theater Awards, Andrew Scott made history. The British actor, who took home the Best Actor award for his West End one-man show, “Vanya,” previously took home the Best Actor award at the 2024 Critics’ Circle Film Awards for his performance in “All of Us Strangers.” He is the first person to win Critics’ Circle Awards for Lead Actor in both film and television in the same year.
“It’s exciting fun,” Scott says. “I have been involved in film and theater since I started acting when I was 17. I have always worked between the two mediums. So to be recognized for these two projects, which were so dear to me, is more than I could have ever hoped for.”
In the case of “Vanya,” Simon Stevens’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s novel “Uncle Vanya,” Scott played all eight roles in the series. This was a daunting task, requiring him to transform his appearance as he took on male and female roles across a wide range of ages and backgrounds.
“It took a tremendous amount of stamina,” Scott admits. “But it’s made me a better actor. I got to work all those muscles.”
In All of Us Strangers, Scott played a middle-aged gay writer grappling with his childhood trauma after his long-dead parents miraculously appear in his life. Scott believes the two projects share some connective tissue.
“Both stories deal with grief, but there is a lightness to the way they explore those themes,” he says.
Scott is proud that critics celebrated these distinguished performances. “I have great respect for good criticism. It’s so wonderful to read it and marvel at how the critic can conjure up a sentence that perfectly describes the feeling of an audience viewing interesting art.”
Of course, he’s no stranger to awards, having previously won 2019’s Best Actor for “Present Laughter,” as well as Best Shakespearean Performance for 2017’s “Hamlet.”
Other winners at the Critics Circle Awards included “The Motive and the Cue,” which won Best New Play, and “Guys & Dolls,” which won Best Musical. Sophie Okonedo won the Best Actress award for her role in the movie “Medea.”
Scott came to the attention of viewers in the United States as the “sexy priest” in the Emmy Award-winning film “Fleabag.” He also played Moriarty in “Sherlock” and appeared in “1917,” “Catherine Called Birdy” and “Spectre.” On stage, Scott’s credits include “The Rooster” and “The Three Kings.” He will next appear as killer Tom Ripley in Netflix’s Ripley.
Although he is in demand in movies and television, Scott says he plans to continue bouncing between screen and stage. “I love theatre,” he says. “It’s an actor’s way. When you’re on stage, you know right away if it’s a success or not. It’s your responsibility to keep the audience engaged and keep them from getting bored. On ‘Fania,’ that responsibility fell entirely on Scott every night.” .