'House of the Dragon' on HBO: Eve Best who plays Rhaenys Targaryen is no stranger to the fantasy genre
Eve Best went from being principal Farah Dowling at the Fairy school of Alfea, in Netflix's 'Fate: The Winx Saga' to ‘The Queen Who Never Was’ in HBO's 'House Of The Dragon' real quick. 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. Read on to find out more about Best and her role in HBO's 'Game Of Thrones: House Of The Dragon'.
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Eve Best's entire career till now
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 for 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.
Her television appearances include Prime Suspect: 'The Final Act,' 'Waking the Dead', 'Shackleton', and 'The Inspector Lynley Mysteries'.
Best co-starred as Dr Eleanor O'Hara in the Showtime dark comedy series 'Nurse Jackie,' which premiered in June 2009. She played the Duchess of Windsor- Wallis Simpson, in 'The King's Speech,' starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush.
In the summer of 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'.
Best has been cast as Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. In a recent interview with Hype, she described her character in a very elaborative way, saying, "My character is called Princess Rhaenys Targaryen. She’s subtitled ‘The Queen Who Never Was.’ When the time came for the throne to be handed over there were two possibilities for the next ruler: her and her cousin Viserys I. She was by far the strongest candidate in terms of brain, experience, and temperament. She was a shoo-in. However, she was passed over and completely outvoted on the grounds that she was a woman. So now she’s in the strangely frustrating position of being one of the top ranking royals at court - and having nothing to do."
The show airs on Sunday, August 21 on HBO and HBO Max.