Scherzinger was named best actress in a musical for her role as faded film star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Jamie Lloyd's minimalist reboot of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. In an emotional acceptance speech, Scherzinger reflected on her recent Broadway success, which came two decades after shooting to fame with the Pussycat Dolls.

"Growing up, I always felt like I didn't belong, but you all have made me feel like I belong and I have come home, at last," she said. "If there's anyone out there who feels like they don't belong or your time hasn't come, don't give up." She added: "Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and your light now more than ever. This is a testament that love always wins." The singer and former X Factor judge won the same prize at the UK equivalent of the Tonys, the Olivier Awards, for her performance in the show's original West End run.

She said it had been an "honour" to work with composer Lord Lloyd Webber, and paid tribute to Lloyd, saying: "You saw in me what no one else did. You have given us all new ways to dream and you have changed my life forever." Scherzinger also sang As If We Never Said Goodbye during the ceremony, a performance that was introduced by Glenn Close, who played Desmond in Sunset Boulevard when it played on Broadway in 1995.

The Tony Awards, hosted by Wicked star Cynthia Erivo at Radio City Music Hall in New York, celebrate the best in US theatre, and particularly Broadway. Snook also repeated her Olivier win, taking best leading actress in a play, for performing all 26 roles in a one-woman stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In her acceptance speech, the actress said: "This means so much for a little Australian girl to be here on Broadway. "[The Picture of Dorian Gray] is billed as a one-person show, but I don't feel alone any night that I do this show. There are so many people on stage making it work and behind the stage making it work." (BBC/Reuters)