Andrew Scott Wins Major British Theater Honor Ahead of the Olivier Awards Next Month

Out Irish actor Andrew Scott may have been snubbed by the Oscars this year for his touching performance in Andrew Haigh's "All of Us Strangers," but he is getting love for his recent theater work. The 47-year-old actor received a Best Actor citation at the 33rd Critics' Circle Theatre Awards this past Saturday for his work in "Vanya," a one-man Chekov adaptation during which Scott plays eight different characters in conversation with each other. Scott is best-known to American audiences as the sexy priest on the second season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's "Fleabag." For his work on the episode "Smithereens" on the anthology series Black Mirror, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

Next month Scott stars in the title role of "Ripley," in which he play's Highsmith's anti-hero Tom Ripley in the new Netflix series. In 2013 he addressed his sexuality in an interview with the Independent, in which he said: "Mercifully, these days people don't see being gay as a character flaw. But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It's just a fact. Of course, it's part of my make-up, but I don't want to trade on it. I am a private person; I think that's important if you're an actor. But there's a difference between privacy and secrecy, and I'm not a secretive person. Really I just want to get on with my job, which is to pretend to be lots of different people. Simple as that."

Deadline reports that Sarah Hemming, the chief theater critic of the Financial Times, described "Scott's performance in 'Vanya' as 'tremendously moving, dialing up the empathy at the heart of that great, humane play and at the heart of live theatre' when she presented him with the award."

Late last year Scott was given the Best Actor nod for "All of Us Strangers" from the Film Critics Circle, that is also under the UK Critics' Circle umbrella. "The win makes the Irish actor the first performer to be handed top honors from both of the UK's national critics bodies," adds Deadline.

And this may not be last acting award Scott could win for "Vanya." Last week he was nominated for Best Actor by the Olivier Awards, London theater's equivalent of the Tony Awards, which will be given out on April 14. His competition consists of actors who, like Scott, are known for their television and film work: Mark Gatiss for "The Motive and the Cue", Joseph Fiennes for "Dear England," James Norton for "A Little Life," and David Tennant for "Macbeth". Gatiss won an Emmy award for "Sherlock," Feinnes has been nominated for an Emmy for "A Handmaid's Tale," and James Norton won a British Academy Television Award for "Happy Valley" and recently was given a WhatsOnStage Award as Best Performer in a Play for his work in "A Little Life."