Ali Stroker makes Tony history with wheelchair

On the evening of June 9, Ali Stroker called her Tony nomination “a dream come true.” A few hours later, she won, and in doing so, the “Oklahoma!” performer made history as the first actor who uses a wheelchair to receive a Tony Award.

The audience at New York’s Radio City Music Hall gave Stroker a rousing ovation when her name was announced as best supporting actress in a musical for her role in the dark revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.

She then came out onto the stage and, with a voice full of emotion, dedicated the award to “every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena.”

“You are,” she declared.

The 31-year-old New Jersey native, who has been paralyzed since age 2 due to a car crash, began performing in musical theater at 7 (she played the title role in a friend’s backyard production of the musical “Annie”), the Associated Press reported.

“When I began to sing, I just felt so free. There was like no limitation,” she told the wire service. “I was used to people staring at me, being a little girl in a wheelchair. But being onstage and the way people were looking at me, it was so different. And I knew that was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”