Metal ion implantation is shown here as an effective technique to fabricate highly compliant electrodes at room temperature on polymer substrates. By implanting 5 keV gold ions in polydimethylsiloxane we have fabricated micron-scale electrodes that conduct at 175% strain, have low surface resistance (< 1 k Omega/square) and negligible thickness (50 nm). These electrodes have been cycled over 10(5) times to 30% strain with minimal change in electrical characteristics, and find applications in flexible electronics, polymer sensors and actuators. Using these ion-implanted electrodes, we have fabricated arrays of mm-size dielectric electroactive polymer actuators capable of out-of-plane deflection up to 25% with excellent stability.