Kevin Spacey To Host 2017 Tony Awards

Kevin Spacey, the actor known for playing a calculating, malicious president on the Netflix show House of Cards, has been tapped to host this year’s Tony Awards.

Spacey is familiar with the stage and has won a Tony in the past – in 1991 he won the Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in Lost in Yonkers, and in 1999 he was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Play for his role in The Iceman Cometh.

This will be Spacey’s first time hosting an award show despite his illustrious career as an entertainer.

Last year’s Tony Awards host, James Corden, was a hit and as such, Spacey will have some large shoes to fill – Corden brought with him the best ratings the award show has seen in 15 years.

“I was their second choice for Usual Suspects, fourth choice for American Beauty, and 15^th choice to host this year’s Tony Awards,” Spacey said in a statement. “I think my career is definitely going in the right direction. Maybe I can get shortlisted to host the Oscars if everyone else turns it down.”

The shows included in this year’s awards had to have been open sometimes between April 29, 2016 and April 27, 2017. Nominations will be announced on May 2.

The award show will air on CBS on Sunday, June 11 at 8 p.m. EST.

Spacey went on The Tonight Show Staring Jimmy Fallon to discuss his upcoming gig.