Sarah Paulson thanks partner Holland Taylor during Tonys acceptance speech

Sarah Paulson thanked her partner Holland Taylor after she won the Tony for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play.

Paulson was honoured for her role as Toni Lafayette in Appropriate.

"Holland, thank you for loving me," she announced on accepting the gong - a tribute to her partner, Two and a Half Men alum Holland Taylor.

She went on to thank the cast and creators of Appropriate, which also earned the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

A darkly comic American family drama by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the play follows the story of the Lafayette family, who return to their late patriarch's Arkansas home to deal with the remains of his estate, and are forced to face the ghosts of their past.

Paulson, who started her career on the stage, has had success on the small screen and won a Primetime Emmy in 2016 for her role as Marcia Clark in American Crime Story.

This is her first Tony Award.

Also nominated in the category were Betsy Aidem, Prayer for the French Republic; Jessica Lange, Mother Play; Rachel McAdams, Mary Jane; and Amy Ryan, Doubt: A Parable.

The 77th Tony Awards ceremony, held on 16 June 2024, recognises achievement in Broadway productions during the 2023-24 season. The ceremony was staged for the first time at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Ariana DeBose hosted the event for the third year in a row.