Last night, Daniel Radcliffe certainly had an exciting night at the 2026 Tony Awards. For starters, the actor was nominated for his performance in Every Brilliant Thing—his critically-acclaimed, one-man Broadway play that concluded last month. But there was also a different sort of buzz for the star surrounding the night: Radcliffe also got to enjoy a rare dad’s night out with his partner, Erin Darke. (The couple have a three-year-old son together—solo date nights are a rarity.) “I was very confident that I was not going to win,” Radcliffe says. “I just wanted to have a great night!”
Radcliffe is no stranger to attending the Tonys, of course: The last time he attended was in 2024, when he won for his performance in the Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along. “It felt a lot less stressful [this year],” says Radcliffe. “I was just excited to have a fun, unusual date night with my partner, and watch a bunch of musical numbers.”
Given Radcliffe only ended his 10-week Broadway run just a few weeks ago, the star hasn’t had a lot of time to see fellow Broadway shows himself, so the evening served as the perfect opportunity to play a bit of catch-up. “It was nice to see little snippets of all these things that I’ve heard about,” says Radcliffe. “The Broadway community is much smaller, comparatively, than the film or TV industries, so it felt really communal and fun.”
Radcliffe certainly felt the love in the room for his own nominated performance. (He first found out he was nominated while dropping his son off at nursery school: “I came out, and had a text from my mom that was just, ‘YES!!!’”) Reflecting on the 10-week run, Radcliffe says Every Brilliant Thing is unlike any other production he’s ever done. He not only carried the show as a one-man act night after night, but was also in direct contact with a wide variety of audiences (who Radcliffe involved in the shows, in some way or another). “As a performer, I was exposed nightly to how brilliant, kind, funny, and clever people can be,” says Radcliffe. “I found it really exhilarating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m tired—I have a three-year-old child! But I found doing the show really energizing.”
