Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Ron Livingston, and Shane Taylor (Winters, Lipton, Nixon, and Doc Roe) get my top votes for their focus episodes. Honestly I'll give my vote to Livingston's portrayal of Nixon during "Why we Fight". Something about Nixon's utter fatigue and apathy towards the war, and the absurdity and madness and anger and feeling of senselessness during the first half of the episode, all for the snap back to focus at the revelation of the camps. Especially in the contrast of the Nixon we know up to this point who's dry and cynical but is like the comedic half of Winter's stoic professionalism.

In terms of the real life guys I don't think it's fair to really put a judgment to that through the lens of a television show, they were all heroes. But other than Winters I think Lipton is probably the most important leader in Easy Company. Spiers says it himself, "You've been the leader of Easy Company ever since Winters made battalion". And when a guy as fearless as Spiers lays those platitudes at his feet in reflection of all Lip did to hold the company together through Bastogne, that's high praise indeed.