Singaporean actress Anjana Vasan wins best supporting actress in a play at Britain’s Olivier awards

Anjana Vasan is the first Singaporean to win best supporting actress in a play at the Olivier awards, which celebrates the best of London theatre, opera and dance.

The 36-year-old London-based Vasan picked up the award on Sunday (Apr 2) for her role as Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Castmate Paul Mescal won best actor for playing Stanley Kowalski. The drama was also named best revival at the awards show.

Vasan was up against Rose Ayling Ellis in As You Like It, Pamela Nomvete in To Kill A Mockingbird, Caroline Quentin in Jack Absolute Flies Again and Sharon Small in Good.  

During her acceptance speech at the ceremony held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the actress thanked her “amma and appa”, telling them “I love you”.

Vasan added: “It’s hard to put into words how much this show has meant to me. It’s mostly thanks to the people involved in it – the creative team, the backstage crew, the stage management and this company, who I love and adore so much.”

She then ended her speech by quipping: “I’m going to find a corner and have a lie down and a cry.”

Vasan is a familiar face in London’s theatre scene – her work in the 2019 staging of A Doll's House in London earned her an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination.

She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 2022 for her role in British television sitcom We Are Lady Parts and has also appeared in popular TV programmes Killing Eve, Sex Education and Black Mirror, as well as a cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home. 

On Instagram, she posted several photos from the awards show, including one of her holding her trophy, and wrote: “Last night wasn’t a dream.”

The Olivier Awards is named for the late actor Laurence Olivier. It was founded in 1976.