Qween Jean made history at the 2026 Tony Awards on Sunday, becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Tony Award. She won Best Costume Design of a Musical for her work on the revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats: The Jellicle Ball."
A Historic Win
In her acceptance speech, Qween Jean said, "This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people ... we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm." She added, "The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change. Thank you so much for this honor."
Her win comes about four years after L Morgan Lee became the first openly trans female performer to be nominated for a Tony for her role in "A Strange Loop" in 2022. In 2023, nonbinary performers J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell won Best Actor in a Musical for "Some Like It Hot" and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for "Shucked," respectively. Last year, Cole Escola became the first nonbinary winner in the Best Actor in a Play category for their portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln in "Oh, Mary!"
The Production
"Cats: The Jellicle Ball" reimagines the feline characters of the original "Cats" as voguing contestants in a series of queer ballroom competitions. The cast is primarily made up of LGBTQ+ actors of color, including trans performers Leiomy and "Tempress" Chastity Moore as Macavity and Grizabella, respectively. The musical opened on Broadway in April to near-universal critical acclaim and received nine Tony nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Qween Jean, a Haitian native who grew up in Miami, was also nominated for Best Costume Design of a Play for her work on "Liberation," but lost that category to Jeff Mahshie for "Fallen Angels."
