Imelda Staunton and Rufus Norris Win Olivier Awards

Congratulations to RADA Graduates Imelda Staunton and Rufus Norris, who won Olivier Awards on 6 April 2025 at the Royal Albert Hall.

Imelda Staunton won Best Actress in a Musical for her critically acclaimed performance as Dolly in Dominic Cooke’s “beautifully life-affirming" revival of Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium. This is Imelda’s fifth Olivier award; she has won this award three times previously for her performances in Into the Woods (1991), Sweeney Tood (2013), and Gypsy (2016), and won Best Performance in a Supporting Role for A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn Is Green (1985). Imelda graduated from RADA in 1976. She is widely celebrated for her roles on stage and screen, and was made a Dame in the 2024 Birthday Honours.

Rufus Norris won the Society of London Theatre Special Award for his services to the theatre industry after ten years as Artistic Director of the National Theatre.

Rufus graduated from RADA 1989. His ten-year tenure at the National has been characterised by a commitment to staging new work, increasing representation on- and off-stage, and making theatre more sustainable. Rufus has overseen more than 170 productions at the National. His final programmed play, David Eldridge’s End, opens in November and stars fellow RADA Graduate Clive Owen. Reflecting on what made his time at the National so successful, he cited, "Empathy, collaboration, craft, rigour, equality of opportunity and love – in all its complexity."

Nominations for the 2025 Olivier Awards were announced in March, with a number of RADA Graduates receiving nods.

Indira Varma and Rosie Sheehy were both nominated for the Best Actress Award for their performances at the Old Vic. Indira starred as Jocasta opposite Rami Malek in Ella Hickson’s "superb new staging” of Oedipus, and Rosie Sheehy led the cast with an “astonishing” performance in Richard Jones’s revival of Machinal. Ben Whishaw was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in “genre-defying” Bluets, based on Maggie Nelson’s meditations on the colour blue, at the Royal Court.

Congratulations to all the winners. You can read the full list here.