At the 69th Tony Awards, which took place Sunday night at Radio City Music Hall, Ruthie Ann Miles received the award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut as Lady Thiang in the Lincoln Center Theatre’s revival of Roger and Hammerstein’s The King and I.
The half-Korean actress was previously well-known for a starring turn as Imelda Marcos, the infamous wife of ousted Phillipines President Ferdinand Marcos, in David Byrne’s off-Broadway production of Here Lies Love. Miles won Theatre World and Lucille Lortell awards for that performance.
The King and I won four other awards at the ceremony. Lead Actor Ken Watanabe, who played the King of Siam, was nominated in the category of Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.
Check out a video of Miles’s emotional and witty acceptance speech, read off of her iPhone, above.