James Corden to Host 2016 Tony Awards

Annual award show honoring Broadway performances will air on CBS June 12

James Corden
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James Corden will host the 2016 Tony Awards, CBS announced Tuesday.

Corden took over “The Late Late Show” last spring and has quickly become known for generating buzzworthy viral videos, such as Carpool Karaoke, garnering more than 500 million views and 2.8 million subscribers for the show’s YouTube channel.

Corden is himself a Tony Award winner. He won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in “One Man, Two Guvnors” in 2012.

He is also a BAFTA-winning star of a U.K. television series, a feature film actor, and a host, writer and producer in several genres of television. Corden hosts the BAFTA Award-winning UK sports-themed comedy game show “A League of Their Own” on Sky 1 and starred in, produced and wrote the BAFTA nominated comedy thriller “The Wrong Mans.”

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be hosting the Tony Awards,” Corden said. “Both times I’ve worked on Broadway have been amongst the happiest times of my professional life. I consider it a huge honor to be asked to host such an incredible night. It’s gonna be fun, I can’t wait to dust off my tap shoes!”

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Tony Awards, which were first held on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom. The ceremony is presented by Tony Award Productions, which is a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, which founded the Tonys. The nominations for the awards will be announced live from The Paramount Hotel on May 3.

The 70th Annual Tony Awards will air live from the Beacon Theatre in New York City on June 12 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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