Eve Best Bio
Emily Frances Finlay Best is an English actress and director whose work spans stage, television and film. Best trained at Lincoln College, Oxford and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before establishing a career on the London stage and on Broadway, and she has taken leading roles in high-profile screen projects while directing for the theatre.
Best is known for a range of performances from classical theatre to contemporary television, including the title role in Hedda Gabler, a Broadway turn in A Moon for the Misbegotten, the television role of Dr Eleanor O’Hara in Nurse Jackie, and the portrayal of Princess Rhaenys Targaryen in House of the Dragon.
Early Life and Background
Emily Frances Finlay Best was born on 31 July 1971 in Hammersmith, London and grew up in Ladbroke Grove. She is the daughter of Alastair Finlay Best, a design journalist, and Susanna Joan Best, a theatre director who founded a company called Shakespeare Link to promote Shakespeare’s work.
Best made her first public performances with the W11 Opera children’s company at age nine and attended Wycombe Abbey Girls’ School. She read English at Lincoln College, Oxford and appeared with the Oxford University Dramatic Society and at the Edinburgh Festival while a student.
After Oxford she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, completing her studies there and graduating in 1999; during this period she adopted Eve Best as a stage name. Her early background combined literary study and practical theatre experience, which shaped both her acting and later directorial approach.
Path to Celebrity
Best’s professional stage debut followed her university and RADA training: she made an early professional appearance as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the Southwark Playhouse. She worked on the London fringe and in repertory, developing a reputation for strong classical performances and versatility across modern and period drama.
Her performance in a revival of ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore at the Young Vic drew significant attention and earned her the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle awards as best newcomer, recognition that helped raise her profile in the UK theatre scene. She continued to appear at leading venues in London and was brought to national attention through a series of high-profile theatre transfers and festival appearances.
Transitioning from notable London work to the national and international stage, Best took roles that led to West End and Broadway opportunities. That progression from fringe theatre to major houses and then to screen roles established her as a performer equally at home with classical text and contemporary material.
Eve Best Career
Early Career (1995–2005)
Best began her professional career in the mid-1990s, building experience in London’s fringe theatres and regional companies before training at RADA and returning to professional stages. Early credits included classical and modern plays at venues such as the Young Vic and the Southwark Playhouse, where her stage presence and textual clarity drew early critical notice.
During this period she also took supporting television roles in British dramas, appearing in series and television films that included work on established franchises. These screen parts complemented her theatre work and broadened her casting range, allowing transitions between stage and screen assignments.
Breakthrough (2006–2015)
Best’s breakthrough on the contemporary British stage came with her title performance in Hedda Gabler, for which she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2006. That Olivier Award firmly established her among leading British stage actors and led to increased international theatre opportunities and screen visibility.
In 2007 Best made her Broadway debut in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten, a transfer that earned her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play and a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Her Broadway work continued with appearances in Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming and subsequent transfers that placed her alongside established U.S. and British actors and directors.
On screen, Best gained recognition for film and television roles in the same period: she portrayed Wallis Simpson in The King’s Speech and co-starred as Dr Eleanor O’Hara in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, a recurring television role that broadened her international audience. She continued to alternate stage and screen work, taking leading Shakespearean parts such as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Notable Works and Milestones
Signature stage roles include Hedda Gabler and her work in A Moon for the Misbegotten and The Duchess of Malfi, while key screen projects include The King’s Speech, Nurse Jackie, The Honourable Woman and House of the Dragon. Her directorial debut came at Shakespeare’s Globe with a production of Macbeth in 2013, marking a significant expansion of her work in the theatre beyond acting.
Eve Best Award Nominations
Across stage and screen, Best has received multiple nominations in major awards competitions. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for A Moon for the Misbegotten and has received recognition from theatre critics and award bodies for both early-career and leading performances.
Eve Best Awards Won
Best’s awards include the 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for Hedda Gabler and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for her Broadway performance in A Moon for the Misbegotten. Early in her career she won the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle awards as best newcomer, honors that signaled her arrival as a significant new talent on the London stage.
Eve Best Family
Best is the daughter of Alastair Finlay Best and Susanna Joan Best, the latter a theatre director who founded Shakespeare Link. She has a younger sister, Joscelyn Elizabeth Best, born in 1973, and her family background provided early exposure to theatre and performance.