At the 2025 Tony Awards red carpet, Laura Donnelly chats with THR and breaks down the morning of Tonys nominations. Plus, she shares the most rewarding part about playing her role in 'The Hills of California.'
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00:00How special is it to be here tonight and be representing your show as a nominee?
00:04It's so wonderful. I mean, I finished in my play before Christmas, and so to get to come back
00:11and revisit it and just remember how amazing that experience was and get to celebrate it,
00:17it's a beautiful thing.
00:19Take me back to nomination morning. Where were you when you found out who was the first person
00:23you told?
00:24I was in California trying not to know anything about it. I'd been on a night shoot the night
00:29before, and I had a night shoot the next night, and I was trying to sleep, so I put my phone
00:33on Do Not Disturb, but I knew. My body woke me up anyway, because I was like, I have to
00:38know. I have to know how the play did as a whole, and it was fantastic. I was really amazed
00:45that we got seven nominations for our play, and that was a really incredible thing, like
00:50I say, because we had closed back in December, and yeah, I can't even remember who the first
00:56person was I spoke to. Probably somebody at work.
01:00What's been the most rewarding part about this role for you?
01:04Always just the long-term playing of it. That's always the most rewarding aspect. The relationships
01:11that I form in the theater, what I get to know about myself in the process. I mean, in
01:18this particular job, our playwright rewrote the entire third act just before we came to
01:24Broadway, and that was the most terrifying thing that I've ever had to face, and yet
01:28I did it, and it went brilliantly, and so I feel like I found something out that I thought
01:33I couldn't do, and it turns out I can. So those learning moments are always massive.
01:37Is there one person that you would especially like to thank tonight for championing your love
01:42for the arts and getting you here?
01:44My, who is now no longer with us, but my Irish dancing teacher when I was a kid, Patricia Mulholland,
01:51was the first one that made me realize that there was a possibility of actually being on
01:56the stage for your life.
01:59So many incredible shows and productions this season. Is there another one outside of your
02:05own that really wowed you?
02:07I saw Nicole in Sunset Boulevard just when I'd come into town in September. It was the
02:15only one I really had a chance to see, and she was spectacular. She absolutely blew me away.
02:22I didn't get a chance to see all the ones that I would love to see because we have to leave
02:27town immediately after we've finished, and this is the first time I've been back, so I'm hoping
02:31to maybe catch some this week on my trip here.