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Massachusetts Native Wins Tony Award, Makes History As Nonbinary Winner

A Broadway star and Massachusetts native just became one of the first nonbinary people to win a Tony award for acting.

Alex Newell stars as Lulu in the award-winning Broadway musical "Shucked."

Alex Newell stars as Lulu in the award-winning Broadway musical "Shucked."

Photo Credit: Emilio Madrid

Alex Newell, who was born in Lynn in 1992, won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a musical on Sunday, June 11 for their performance as Lulu in the Broadway musical comedy "Shucked." 

Newell identifies as gender nonconforming and uses all pronouns, according to her Wikipedia page. 

They made history as one of the first openly nonbinary performers, along with J. Harrison Ghee, who won the award for best lead actor in a musical for their role as Jerry/Daphne in "Some Like It Hot," Variety reported. 

Newell appeared as a recurring character on multiple seasons of the hit show "Glee," which was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2012.

Newell has found success as a recording musician as well as a TV and stage actor and has over a million monthly Spotify listeners. 

"Shucked," directed by Jack O'Brien of "Hairspray" fame, received 9 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical. 

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