Sonia Friedman


Sonia Friedman is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer, hailed as a seven years in a row, as well as "the most powerful producer working in theater" by the in 2025. Friedman was also listed as one of most influential women working today in 2025. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first person to win the award three times. In 2018, Friedman was featured in "TIME100", Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was named Broadway Briefing's Show Person of the Year. In 2019, Sonia Friedman Productions was ranked The Stage 's most influential theatre producer in The Stage 100. Sonia Friedman CBE was featured in The Standard 100, a celebratory feature of the key power players shaping London in 2024.

Early life

Friedman is the youngest of four children of Clair Llewelyn , a concert pianist, and violinist Leonard Freedman, who was leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham and co-founder of many national institutions including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Baroque Ensemble. Her father was from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, and her mother is English. She is the younger sister of the actress and director Maria Friedman, the great violinist Richard Friedman, and Dr Sarah Beecham.

Career

Theatre producer

After working at the National Theatre between 1988 and 1993, she co-founded the new writing theatre company Out of Joint in 1993 with Max Stafford-Clark. From 1998, Friedman worked as a producer for the Ambassador Theatre Group. She launched her own theatre company, Sonia Friedman Productions, in 2002. Friedman's productions have been nominated for and won numerous Olivier, Tony and other awards.
At the 2014 Olivier Awards, Sonia Friedman Productions made Olivier Awards history by winning the most awards for any producer and for winning prizes for Best New Play, Best New Musical , Best Play Revival and Best Musical Revival. In 2017, Friedman won producer of the year at The Stage Awards for a third year, and was listed as no. 1 on The Stage power list, the second solo female to hold this position in the award's history and becoming the first person to top the list that wasn't a theatre owner.
SFP productions and co-productions received an unprecedented 31 nominations in the 2017 Olivier Awards – including a record-breaking 11 for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'' – the most nominated new play in Olivier history. The show went on to win 9 Olivier Awards – the most ever for one production.
In 2018, Friedman was awarded the Equity Services to Theatre Award at the 18th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards, and was featured in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
In 2025, Sonia Friedman and Hugh Jackman launched TOGETHER, a new company dedicated to creating live theatre that is intimate and accessible. Every TOGETHER production is driven by a commitment to offering audiences a chance to experience theatre in a fresh and engaging way. Working alongside director Ian Rickson, TOGETHER has produced Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes and Creditors, which played in repertory at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre in Spring 2025, with Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes being developed further for Audible Theatre. With Ian Rickson returning to direct, the company currently has other projects in development.

TV and film producer

In 2015, Sonia Friedman Productions co-produced two television dramas which aired on BBC Two: Wolf Hall, a six-part mini-series of Dame Hilary Mantel’s historical novel, was broadcast in January, winning two BAFTA Television Awards the following year, and in October, the BAFTA-nominated adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s The Dresser, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen.
In 2020, Sonia Friedman Productions partnered with Angelica Films to create a re-interpretation of Ian Rickson's stage production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. The new film version of the production was shown in cinemas ahead of broadcast on the BBC, making it the first UK stage production closed by the Coronavirus pandemic to be seen onscreen. The following year, Sonia Friedman produced a film version of Yasmin Joseph’s play J’Ouvert, also staged at the Harold Pinter Theatre, for BBC Four.
Later in 2021, Sonia Friedman Productions produced Together, written by Dennis Kelly and directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. The BBC "lockdown drama" starred James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan as a couple forced to confront their fractured relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Told directly to camera through monologues and set entirely in their home, it mixed dark humour with emotional honesty. The film won the 2022 BAFTA for Best Single Drama.

Honours

Friedman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to theatre and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 New Year Honours, also for services to theatre.

Personal life

She is the younger sister of director/actress/singer Maria Friedman, violinist Richard Friedman, and Dr Sarah Beecham.

Theatre credits

Olivier Awards

  • Oedipus, Best Revival, 2025
  • Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Best New Entertainment/Comedy Play, 2024
  • Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Best Musical Revival, 2023
  • Leopoldstadt, Best New Play, 2020
  • Fiddler on the Roof, Best Musical Revival, 2020
  • The Inheritance, Best New Play, 2019
  • Summer and Smoke, Best Revival, 2019
  • The Ferryman, Best New Play, 2018
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Best New Play, 2017
  • Sunny Afternoon, Best New Musical, 2015
  • King Charles III, Best New Play, 2015
  • The Book of Mormon, Best New Musical, 2014
  • Chimerica, Best New Play, 2014
  • Ghosts, Best Revival, 2014
  • Merrily We Roll Along, Best Musical Revival, 2014
  • Legally Blonde, Best New Musical, 2011
  • The Mountaintop, Best New Play, 2010
  • La Cage Aux Folles, Best Musical Revival, 2009

    Tony Awards

  • Eureka Day, Best Revival of a Play, 2025
  • Merrily We Roll Along, Best Revival of a Musical, 2024
  • Stereophonic, Best Play, 2024
  • Leopoldstadt, Best Play, 2023
  • The Inheritance, Best Play, 2020–21
  • The Ferryman, Best Play, 2019
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Best Play, 2018
  • A View from the Bridge, Best Revival of a Play, 2016
  • The Humans, Best Play, 2016
  • A Raisin in the Sun, Best Revival of a Play, 2014
  • Death of a Salesman, Best Revival of a Play, 2012
  • The Book Of Mormon, Best Musical, 2011
  • La Cage Aux Folles, Best Revival of a Musical, 2010
  • The Norman Conquests, Best Revival of a Play, 2009
  • Boeing-Boeing, Best Revival of a Play, 2008

    Bafta Television Awards

  • Drama Series, Together, 2022
  • Drama Series, Wolf Hall, 2016

    The Stage Awards

  • Producer of the year, Sonia Friedman, 2019
  • Producer of the year, Sonia Friedman, 2017
  • Producer of the year, Sonia Friedman, 2016
  • Producer of the year, Sonia Friedman, 2015

    Evening Standard Awards

  • Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Best Musical, 2022
  • The Inheritance, Best Play, 2018
  • The Ferryman, Best Play, 2017
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Best Play, 2016
  • Jerusalem, Best Play, 2009
  • Home Place, Brian Friel, Best Play, 2005

    Drama Desk Awards

  • Eureka Day, Outstanding Revival of a Play, 2025
  • Stereophonic, Outstanding Play, 2024
  • The Piano Lesson, Outstanding Revival of a Play, 2023
  • Leopoldstadt, Outstanding Play, 2023
  • The Inheritance, Outstanding Play, 2020
  • The Ferryman, Outstanding Play, 2019
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Outstanding New Broadway Play, 2018
  • Death of a Salesman, Outstanding Revival of a Play, 2012
  • The Book of Mormon, Outstanding Musical, 2011
  • La Cage aux Folles, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, 2010
  • A View From the Bridge, Outstanding Revival of a Play, 2010
  • The Norman Conquests, Outstanding Revival of a Play, 2009
  • Boeing-Boeing, Outstanding Revival of a Play, 2008

    Critics' Circle Awards

  • Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Best Musical, 2023
  • Patriots, Best New Play, 2023
  • The Inheritance, Best New Play, 2018
  • The Ferryman, Best New Play, 2017
  • Bend It Like Beckham, Best Musical, 2015
  • King Charles III, Best New Play, 2014
  • Chimerica, Best New Play, 2013
  • Merrily We Roll Along, Best Musical, 2012
  • Clybourne Park, Best New Play, 2011
  • Jerusalem, Best New Play, 2010
  • La Cage Aux Folles, Best Musical, 2009

    WhatsOnStage Awards

  • Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Best New Play, 2024
  • Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Best Musical Revival, 2023
  • The Inheritance, Best New Play, 2019
  • Sonia Friedman, Equity Services to Theatre Award, 2018
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Best West End Show, 2018
  • The Ferryman, Best New Play, 2018
  • Hamlet, Best Play Revival, 2018
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Best New Play, 2017
  • Funny Girl, Best Musical Revival, 2017
  • Hamlet, Best Play Revival, 2016
  • Shakespeare in Love, Best New Play, 2015
  • The Book of Mormon, Best New Musical, 2014
  • Twelfth Night, Best Shakespearean Production, 2013
  • Much Ado About Nothing, David Tennant and Catherine Tate reuniting on stage, Theatre Event of the Year, 2012
  • Much Ado About Nothing, Best Shakespearean Production, 2012
  • Legally Blonde, by Nell Benjamin, Lawrence O’Keefe & Heather Hach, Best New Musical, 2011
  • Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth, Best New Play, 2010
  • Under The Blue Sky, by David Eldridge, Best New Play, 2009
  • Rock ‘n’ Roll, by Tom Stoppard, Best New Play, 2007
  • Up For Grabs, Madonna's West End debut, Theatre Event of the Year, 2003
  • A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Best Play Revival, 2002

    Black British Theatre Awards

  • Shifters, Best Production - Play, 2025

    [South Bank Sky Arts Award]s

  • Uncle Vanya, 2021
  • The Inheritance, 2019
  • The Jungle, 2018
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, 2017
  • King Charles III, 2015

    Outer Critics Circle Awards

  • Stereophonic, Best Play, David Adjmi, 2024
  • Stereophonic, Outstanding New Broadway Play, David Adjmi, 2024
  • Leopoldstadt, Outstanding New Broadway Play, 2023
  • The Inheritance, Outstanding New Broadway Play, 2020
  • The Ferryman, Outstanding New Broadway Play, 2019
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Outstanding New Broadway Play, 2018

    New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards

  • Stereophonic, Best Play, 2024
  • Merrily We Roll Along, Special Citation, 2024
  • The Ferryman, Best Play, 2019

    Drama League Awards

  • Merrily We Roll Along, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, 2024
  • Leopoldstadt, Outstanding Production of a Play, 2023
  • The Inheritance, Outstanding Production of a Play, 2020
  • The Ferryman, Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play, 2019
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play, 2018