Two for Two for The Normal Heart: John Benjamin Hickey Wins Best Featured Actor

Broadway vet John Benjamin Hickey joined Ellen Barkin as a Tony winner for his featured performance in The Normal Heart. Hickey plays Felix Turner, whose battle with AIDS is the central emotional event in Larry Kramer’s play.

In his acceptance speech, Hickey echoed Barkin, calling The Normal Heart “the proudest moment in my career. We love supporting the mighty, mighty Joe Mantello,” who plays Ned Weeks, the stage lover of his character. Hickey saluted co-director Joel Grey for casting him in the original benefit reading of the show and co-director George C. Wolfe “for taking us by the throat and dropping us into the mouth of the cannon.”

The Tony is a fitting reward for Hickey’s hard work on Showtime's The Big C by day (the actor gave a shout-out to co-star Laura Linney) and eight Broadway shows a week. He quipped that his mother in Plano, Texas, “better not be watching the Mavericks!”