Theatre Trivia Tweet: A Tony First Do you know the answer to this Tony first? Who was the first African-American actress to win the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play and what year did she win it? SelectReveal Answer> It was not until 2004 that an African-American actress won the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. The actress was Phylicia Rashad and she won it for A Raisin in the Sun. Post navigation previous postNext Post