Audra McDonald’s Billie Holiday Portrayal Wins Her Sixth Tony Award; Audra McDonald Makes Broadway

Audra McDonald's Billie Holiday transformation has become legendary.

Audra McDonald is the Tony Awards' most decorated actress. Singer and actress Audra McDonald won her sixth Tony Award last night, Sunday, June 8, for playing Billie Holiday in the Broadway play "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill."

McDonald's win puts her ahead of five-time winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris for the most competitive wins by an actress. McDonald won the Tony Award for Best Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her performance as Billie Holiday in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill."

Last night, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder" won the Tony Award for best musical. McDonald told The Hollywood Reporter. "Every night before I go on stage, I tell myself, 'You are Billie Holiday's defender. Go out there and tell the truth.' For me, I feel like I am going out there and telling it like it is. We are telling stories about the hard times, as well as the joys."

The 43-year-old actress also set a record as the first performer in Tony Award history to win statues in all four acting categories. McDonald previously won best the featured actress in a musical award in 1994 for the play "Carousel."

In 19 McDonald pulled in; featured actress in a play win for "Ragtime."

In 1996 the future Billie Holiday would win for Master Class. In 2004 she plucked a statue for the revival of "A Raisin in the Sun." She won the lead actress in a musical Tony Award in 2012 for "Porgy and Bess."

Broadway.com previously reported that the Tony Administration Committee wasn't sure whether it would even consider "Lady Day" a play because the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League put the show in the musical category this season.

McDonald also appeared on Broadway in "110 in the Shade," "Henry IV Marie Christine" and "The Secret Garden."

Audra McDonald appeared in the films "Private Practice," "Annie" and "Wit."