Eve Best


Emily "Eve" Best is an English stage and screen actress and director, known for her television roles as Dr. Eleanor O'Hara in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, First Lady Dolley Madison in the American Experience television special, and Monica Chatwin in the BBC miniseries The Honourable Woman. She also played Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech.
Best won the 2005 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.

Early life and education

Best grew up in Ladbroke Grove, London, daughter of a design journalist and an actress. She attended Wycombe Abbey Girls’ School before going on to Lincoln College, Oxford, where she read English. Some of her earliest public performances were with the W11 Opera children's opera company in London at the age of nine. After graduating from Oxford where she had appeared in Oxford University Dramatic Society productions, and toured to the Edinburgh Festival, she made her professional debut as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the Southwark Playhouse.

Career

After a period working on the London fringe, Best trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 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, Waking the Dead, Shackleton , and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries .
She appears 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-stars 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-stars as Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, alongside William Hurt in The Challenger, 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.

Film, television, and stage

YearTitleRoleNotes
2001Brilliant!Nina
2002ShackletonEleanor ShackletonTV Movie
2004The LodgeYuni
2010The King's SpeechWallis Simpson
2014Someone You LoveKate
2014UnityNarratorDocumentary

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000The BillAnneEpisode: Beasts
2000CasualtyAmber HopeEpisode: Seize the Night
2001The Infinite Worlds of H. G. WellsEllen McGillvrayTV mini-series
2004Waking the DeadNatasha BloomEpisode: Shadowplay: Part 1
2004Lie With MeRoselyn TylerTV mini-series
2005The Inspector Lynley MysteriesAmanda GibsonEpisode: In Divine Proportion
2006Prime Suspect: The Final ActLinda Philips
2006Vital SignsSarah Cartwright6 episodes
2009–2013,
2015		Nurse JackieDr. Eleanor O'HaraMain cast
Guest
2010American ExperienceDolley MadisonEpisode: Dolley Madison
2010The Shadow LinePetra Mayler3 episodes
2012Up All NightYvonne EncantoEpisode: New Boss
2013The ChallengerSally Ride
2014New WorldsAngelica FanshaweEpisodes 1–3
2014The Honourable WomanMonica ChatwinEpisodes 1–8
2015Life in SquaresVanessa Bell
2016Stan Lee's Lucky ManAnna ClaytonMain cast

YearTitleRoleLocation
1995Much Ado About NothingBeatriceSouthwark Playhouse, London
1996Sisters, BrothersGate Theatre, London
1999'Tis Pity She's a WhoreAnnabellaYoung Vic, London
2000The HeiressCatherineRoyal National Theatre, London
2000The Cherry OrchardVaryaRoyal National Theatre, London
2001MacbethLady MacbethShakespeare's Globe, London
2002The MisanthropeJenniferChichester Festival Theatre
2002The Coast of UtopiaLiubov BakuninRoyal National Theatre, London
2003Three SistersMashaRoyal National Theatre, London
2003Mourning Becomes ElectraLavinia MannonRoyal National Theatre, London
2005Hedda GablerHeddaAlmeida, London and Duke of York's Theatre, London
2006–07A Moon for the MisbegottenJosieOld Vic, London and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York
2007As You Like ItRosalindSheffield Crucible and Swan Theatre
2007–08The HomecomingRuthCort Theatre, New York
2011Much Ado About NothingBeatriceShakespeare's Globe, London
2012The Duchess of MalfiThe DuchessOld Vic, London
2013MacbethDirectorShakespeare's Globe, London
2014Antony and CleopatraCleopatraShakespeare's Globe, London
2015Old TimesAnnaAmerican Airlines Theatre, Broadway
2017Love in IdlenessOlivia BrownMenier Chocolate Factory, Apollo Theatre, London
2017A Woman of No ImportanceMrs ArbuthnotVaudeville, London

Awards and nominations