Emily "Eve" Frances Finlay Best (born 31 July 1971) is an English actress and director. She is known for her television roles as Dr Eleanor O'Hara in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie (2009–2015), First Lady Dolley Madison in the American Experience television special (2011), Monica Chatwin in the BBC miniseries The Honourable Woman (2014) and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen in HBO's House of the Dragon (2022–2024). She also played Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech.
Best won the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress for playing the title role in Hedda Gabler. She made her Broadway debut in the 2007 revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play, and receiving the first of two nominations for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play; the second was for the revival of The Homecoming in 2008. She returned to Broadway in the 2015 revival of Old Times.Old Times at the American Airlines Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company
Early life Best was born in Hammersmith, London, and grew up in Ladbroke Grove, London. She is the daughter of Alastair Finlay Best, a design journalist, and Susanna Joan Best (née Pulford), a theatre director; her mother founded a theatre company called Shakespeare Link, which aimed to spread Shakespeare’s word. Her parents married in Chelsea, London, in 1968. She also has a younger sister, Joscelyn Elizabeth, born in 1973. Her early performances were with the W11 Opera children's opera company in London at the age of nine. She attended Wycombe Abbey Girls' School before going on to Lincoln College, Oxford, where she studied English. After graduating from Oxford where she had appeared in Oxford University Dramatic Society productions and performed at the Edinburgh Festival, she made her professional debut as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the Southwark Playhouse.
Career After working on the London fringe, Best trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. After graduating in 1999 she appeared in a revival of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Young Vic for which she won both the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle best newcomer awards; she adopted her grandmother's name as a stage name, as an Emily Best was already registered with British Actors' Equity Association.
Best won a Laurence Olivier Award for playing the title role in Hedda Gabler and was nominated for the same award the following year for her performance as Josie in Eugene O'Neill's play A Moon for the Misbegotten at the Old Vic Theatre in London.
In early 2007, she starred in a Sheffield Crucible production of As You Like It which played for a short time at the RSC's Swan Theatre in Stratford as part of their Complete Works season. In the same year she performed in the Broadway transfer of A Moon for the Misbegotten for which she was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actress in a Play.
Best appeared in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at the Cort Theatre in New York, which co-starred Ian McShane, Raúl Esparza and Michael McKean. Daniel Sullivan directed the 20-week limited engagement, which ran until 13 April 2008. She once again appeared as Beatrice in a critically acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in 2011, playing opposite Charles Edwards as Benedick and starred in the Old Vic production of The Duchess of Malfi in 2012. She made her directorial debut with a production of Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in 2013.
Television appearances include Prime Suspect: The Final Act (2006), Waking the Dead (2004), Shackleton (2002), and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2005).
She appeared as Lucrece in the Naxos audiobook version of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece. She also starred in a 2000 BBC Radio 4 production of Emma.
Best co-starred as Dr Eleanor O'Hara in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie, that premiered in June 2009. She played the Duchess of Windsor – Wallis Simpson – in The King's Speech, starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush.
Best also co-starred as Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, alongside William Hurt in The Challenger Disaster, a British made for TV dramatization of the Rogers Commission set up to investigate the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
In summer 2014 Best played Cleopatra, the leading role in the Shakespeare's Globe version of Antony and Cleopatra. She returned to Broadway in the 2015 revival of the Pinter play Old Times, opposite Clive Owen and Kelly Reilly. She played headmistress Farah Dowling in Fate: The Winx Saga.
The TV series Maryland aired in May 2023 on ITV1, with Best playing Rosaline, who is reuniting with her sister Becca (Suranne Jones) after their mother's body is found dead on the Isle of Man.
Wild Cherry by Nicôle Leckey presents Best as Juliet Londsdale, Lord's daughter, mother to a teenage daughter and author of a parenting guide, alongside Carmen Ejogo as Lorna Gibbons, mother of her daughter's best friend. Their privileged lifes fall apart when their daughters are embroiled in a scandal at a private school in the Home Counties.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2001 Brilliant! Nina (short) 2002 Shackleton Eleanor Shackleton TV movie 2004 The Lodge Yuni (short) 2010 The King's Speech Wallis Simpson 2014 Someone You Love Kate 2014 Unity Narrator Documentary 2023 Such A Lovely Day Auntie Annie (short)
Television Year Title Role Notes 2000 The Bill Anne Episode: Beasts 2000 Casualty Amber Hope Episode: Seize the Night 2001 The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells Ellen McGillvray TV mini-series 2004 Waking the Dead Natasha Bloom Episode: Shadowplay: Part 1 2004 Lie With Me Roselyn Tyler TV mini-series 2005 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Amanda Gibson Episode: In Divine Proportion 2006 Prime Suspect: The Final Act Linda Philips 2006 Vital Signs Sarah Cartwright 6 episodes 2009–2013, 2015 Nurse Jackie Dr Eleanor O'Hara 2010 American Experience Dolley Madison Episode: Dolley Madison 2010 The Shadow Line Petra Mayler 3 episodes 2012 Up All Night Yvonne Encanto Episode: New Boss 2013 The Challenger Disaster Sally Ride 2014New Worlds Angelica Fanshawe Episodes 1–3 2014 The Honourable Woman Monica Chatwin Episodes 1–8 2015 Life in SquaresVanessa Bell 2016–2017 Stan Lee's Lucky Man Anna Clayton Main cast 2021–2022 Fate: The Winx Saga Farah Dowling Main cast (season 1, 6 episodes; season 2, 1 episode) 2022–2024 House of the Dragon Rhaenys Targaryen Main cast (11 episodes)2023MarylandRosalineMain cast (3 episodes)2023The CrownCarole Middleton2 episodes2025Wild CherryJuliet LonsdaleMain cast
Stage Year Title Role Location 1995 Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice Southwark Playhouse, London 1996 Sisters, Brothers Gate Theatre, London 1999 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Annabella Young Vic, London 2000 The Heiress Catherine Royal National Theatre, London 2000 The Cherry Orchard Varya Royal National Theatre, London 2001 Macbeth Lady Macbeth Shakespeare's Globe, London 2002 The Misanthrope Jennifer Chichester Festival Theatre 2002 The Coast of Utopia Liubov Bakunin Royal National Theatre, London 2003 Three Sisters Masha Royal National Theatre, London 2003 Mourning Becomes Electra Lavinia Mannon Royal National Theatre, London 2005 Hedda Gabler Hedda Almeida, London and Duke of York's Theatre, London 2006–07 A Moon for the Misbegotten Josie Old Vic, London and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York 2007 As You Like It Rosalind Sheffield Crucible and Swan Theatre (Stratford) 2007–08 The Homecoming Ruth Cort Theatre, New York 2011 Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice Shakespeare's Globe, London 2012 The Duchess of Malfi The Duchess Old Vic, London 2013 Macbeth Director Shakespeare's Globe, London 2014 Antony and Cleopatra Cleopatra Shakespeare's Globe, London 2015Old TimesAnnaAmerican Airlines Theatre, Broadway 2017Love in Idleness Olivia Brown Menier Chocolate Factory, Apollo Theatre, London 2017A Woman of No Importance Mrs Arbuthnot Vaudeville, London
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 1999 Evening Standard Award The Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer 'Tis Pity She's a Whore 1999 Critics' Circle Theatre Award The Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer (other than a playwright) 'Tis Pity She's a Whore 2003 Critics' Circle Theatre Award Best Actress Mourning Becomes Electra 2005 Critics' Circle Theatre Award Best Actress Hedda Gabler 2006 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actress Hedda Gabler 2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actress in a Play A Moon for the Misbegotten 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actress in a Play A Moon for the Misbegotten 2007 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actress A Moon for the Misbegotten 2007 Tony Award Best Actress A Moon for the Misbegotten 2008 Tony Award Best Actress The Homecoming 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding Actress in a Play The Homecoming
References
External links
Interview with the Sunday Times