Eve Best

Currently: Giving a powerful yet touching—and now Tony nominated—Broadway debut performance as Josie Hogan, the plain-spoken farmwoman who pines for her landlord, Jim Tyrone [Kevin Spacey], in the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten.

Hometown: London, England. Born Emily Best, the actress took her grandmother's first name when she joined British Equity because another Emily had already registered. "Changing my name was traumatic for me," she says, noting that her friends still call her Emily. "Eve is for work."

Second Time's the Charm: After studying English at Oxford, Best auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art—and was rejected. "When I left Oxford, I knew I wanted to act, but I was unsure how to go about it," she says. "I applied to RADA in a halfhearted way and they quite rightly told me to piss off and get my act together. So I did, and got in after a couple of years' time." Good move on RADA's part: Since her debut opposite Jude Law in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Best has blasted her way through an amazing array of classic stage roles, including award-winning turns as Lavinia in O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra and the title role of Hedda Gabler, as well as the original London company of The Coast of Utopia.

The Spacey Effect: Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey wooed Best to co-star with him first at the Old Vic in London, where he is artistic director and has given her both top billing and the final curtain-call bow. She deflects questions about the mixed notices Spacey's comedic approach to his role received from New York critics. "I don't read reviews," Best says. "I find them very distracting, whether they're good or bad." Hers were uniformly glowing. "Kevin and I clicked straightaway, and I love acting with them. He's brave and generous and very, very kind. I think he's absolutely brilliant."

Earth Mother: "If you're a woman doing classic theater, the big roles are often destroyers," Best points out. "I've played Hedda Gabler, Lady Macbeth, some of the Chekhovian heroines, Electra, Phaedra—they're all powerful women, but they're forces of negativity. What's amazing about Josie is that she's a life force, a strong and nurturing woman. It's a wonderful experience to play that positive energy." Best compares performing O'Neill to "fighting with a broadsword—he uses so many words, and you're expressing such huge, agonizing emotions. It feels like being a gladiator, like characters in a ring fighting for survival."

I Need a Bath! Only one thing bothers Best about playing Josie, and it's not the unflattering, Depression-era housedresses she's stuck wearing onstage: "I've had it with the dirt!" she says with a laugh. "We're Irish pig farmers, so we have to look really filthy. Every night, we put on so much dirt, and it takes hours to get it off. I take two showers after the show, but in the morning, my sheets are covered with little bits of red gravel that get in my hair."

New York State of Mind: Best confesses she's besotted with Manhattan, which she'd never visited before arriving for rehearsals. "I've got a little apartment in the West Village, and I love to hang out in the cafes—it's like being in the movies!" she raves. "When I first arrived in midtown, I nearly had a heart attack at all the huge, huge buildings. I was wandering around like Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz." These days, she revels in the contrast between her adopted neighborhood and the bustling theater district. "I love coming out of the tube from the West Village, where it's all little houses and trees, and getting off in midtown. It's like going to a different country in 15 minutes."

Tony Time: No stranger to awards recognition including an Olivier for her Hedda, Best claims to be "in a panic" over New York's action-packed awards calendar and declines to speculate about the Tonys. "I'm having such a great time just being here and going to work every day, getting [awards nominations] and being invited to lunches is icing on the cake." As for thoughts of the big night at Radio City Music Hall, she says, "I'm really scared! I find it all rather terrifying—but very very thrilling."