T.R. Knight and Cynthia Nixon to Co-Host 2007 Obie Awards

Cynthia Nixon and T.R. Knight have been named co-hosts of the 52nd annual Village Voice Obie Awards for excellence in off-Broadway theater. The ceremony will be held on May 21 at New York University's Skirball Center.

Best known for his role as sensitive intern George O'Malley in the hit TV series Grey's Anatomy, Knight has appeared on New York stages in the Broadway revival of Noises Off as well as Tartuffe, This Lime Tree Bower and Scattergood. Other theater credits include Ah, Wilderness! and the title role in Amadeus. The Village Voice press release cited Knight's membership in the acting company of the Guthrie Theatre but managed to make no mention of his role in Grey's Anatomy, in which his character is romantically paired with Sara Ramirez, a Tony winner for Spamalot. His mother on the show is played by Debra Monk, who begins previews later this month in the Broadway musical Curtains.

Nixon was seen off-Broadway earlier in this season in the title role of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and won the 2006 Tony for Best Actress for her leading role in Rabbit Hole. She starred as Mary Haines in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Women. Nixon made her stage debut at 14 as Dinah Lord The Philadelphia Story at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. At 15, she was directed off-Broadway by Louis Malle in the title role of John Guare's Lydie Breeze. At 18, she appeared simultaneously in two Broadway productions, David Rabe's Hurlyburly and Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, both directed by Mike Nichols, and later played Juliet at the Public Theater opposite Peter MacNichol's Romeo. After ending her long run as no-nonsense attorney Miranda Hobbes in Sex and the City, Nixon earned an Emmy nomination for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the HBO film Warm Springs.

The Obies, described as "the freewheeling wild child" of New York theater's awards world, were established in 1955 by Village Voice theater editor Jerry Tallmer. They are picked by a committee of critics including at least two Voice staff critics and theater professionals who know the field. There are a few set awards—Lifetime Achievement, Best New American Play—but no set categories.