Miranda Raison


Miranda Caroline Raison is an English screen and stage actress.

Early life

Miranda Raison was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk on 18 November 1977. Her mother is Caroline Raison. Raison’s maternal great-grandfather was Thomas Coke, 4th Earl of Leicester.
Her parents divorced when she was five years old. From a young age she attended five boarding schools, including Gresham's School, Felixstowe College and Stowe School; her education was paid for by her grandfather.
It was at Felixstowe College where she cemented an interest in acting; she moved there after experiencing bullying at her previous school. She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Theatre

In 1999, she played the role of June Stanley in the play The Man Who Came to Dinner.
In 2000, Raison played Desdemona in William Shakespeare's Othello at the Theatre Royal, York.
From 27 February to 7 April 2001, she performed in the role of Davina in the farce Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! at The Mill, Sonning.
, 2013
From 2002–3, she appeared as Ben-Hur's love interest in a minimalist production of the eponymous play at the Battersea Arts Centre. Later in 2003, she was featured in Pains of Youth, again at the Battersea Arts Centre, playing the death obsessed bisexual Desiree; Lyn Gardner of The Guardian described her performance as making "Desiree's death wish seem tragic rather than merely silly."
In 2011, she appeared as Ann in the short play "Oliver Lewis" by Jack Thorne, part of the series of plays 66 Books performed at the Bush Theatre.
In June/July 2012 she appeared in a production of The Physicists: A Comedy in Two Acts at the Donmar Warehouse, playing the roles of Lina Rose, the lead character's ex-wife, and Monika Settler, the lead's attending nurse. From October 2012 Raison starred in The River, a new play by Jez Butterworth, at the Royal Court Theatre alongside Dominic West. Tickets became "the most sought-after theatre tickets in London" after rave reviews.
From January to February 2015, she starred opposite Shaun Evans in Hello/Goodbye at the Hampstead Theatre. In August 2015 she joined the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company in The Winter's Tale and Harlequinade which ran at the Garrick Theatre from October 2015 until January 2016. Raison played the wife of Kenneth Branagh's character in both plays. She stated that she enjoyed the experience and was grateful for the opportunity, given that previously she had a bad audition with Branagh for Macbeth in 2011. She also enjoyed learning from Judi Dench.

Film and television

In 2005, she landed a role in , which she described as that it "may as well have been the most brutal Lars von Trier film. Another actress and I actually spent a whole night just crying." She called the experience "regrettable from start to finish" and a "hideous, hideous moment and a great lapse of judgement on my part."
Raison's breakthrough role was as Jo Portman in the BBC One television drama series Spooks. She requested that the production company let her go in 2009 as she felt that her character could not develop further and wanted to follow up on theatre opportunities.
In April 2007 she appeared in the Doctor Who episodes "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks" as Tallulah, a show girl whose opening scene involved singing to a musical number, for which Raison's father played the piano background as part of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She continues to be connected to the Doctor Who franchise by being in several Big Finish Productions audio stories, most notably playing Sixth Doctor companion Constance Clarke.
In 2008 and 2009, she appeared in short films produced by Exit Strategy Films. In 2009, she was featured in the show Plus One. She was originally featured in the Comedy Showcase pilot in 2007, where she wore a fat suit.
She was also involved in the film Heaven and Earth, an intended biopic of Dr. James Miranda Barry, in which Raison played the role of Helena Langrish Smith. However, the project was pulled after filming had started in South Africa.
In 2010 after leaving Spooks, she played a model called Abbey in the ITV1 comedy-drama Married Single Other.
She had a small role in My Week with Marilyn. She expressed pleasure in being able to work with great British talent and her fascination with Marilyn Monroe.
In July 2014 she was announced as a new cast member of Spotless, a drama produced by Canal+.
On 15 April 2015 it was announced that a second series of Spotless was in development.
In 2018, Raison reprised her role as ‘Sylvie’ in 6 episodes of Dark Heart, played xenobiologist ‘Tessia’ in 6 episodes of Nightflyers and appeared in Artemis Fowl.
In May 2019 it was announced that Raison would be joining the main cast of Warrior for the second season.

Personal life

She plays golf and is a member of the Aldeburgh Golf Club.
While separated from her first husband, Raza Jaffrey, she began a relationship with her Married Single Other co-star Ralf Little in November 2009; their relationship ended in February 2013.
She married again in 2017 to Christopher Mollard and had a daughter in that same year.
She speaks fluent French and is conversational in Italian and Spanish.
She gave up drinking alcohol for health reasons, and is distantly related to Jack Huston.

Filmography and voice over