Miranda Caroline Raison is an English actress best known for playing Jo Portman in five seasons of Spooks (MI5) and Nellie Davenport in HBO's Warrior. She originated the title role in Howard Brenton's Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and played Hermione in Kenneth Branagh's production of The Winter's Tale, both to critical acclaim. She is also a prolific voice artist.
Early life and education
Miranda Caroline Raison was born in Burnham Thorpe. Her mother is former Anglia News reader Caroline Raison (née Harvey). Her father, Nick Raison, is a jazz pianist who accompanied the BBC National Orchestra of Wales when Raison played a showgirl in the Doctor Who episodes "Daleks in Manhattan" and "Evolution of the Daleks".
Raison's 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 developed 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
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 2010 she played the title role in Anne Boleyn, a new play by Howard Brenton, who had also been involved in scripts for BBC's Spooks in which Raison went on to appear in 5 series, which premiered at Shakespeare's Globe on 24 July 2010 to high critical acclaim. In the same Shakespeare's Globe season Raison also played Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII by William Shakespeare.
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 (Jerwood) alongside Dominic West. Tickets became "the most sought-after theatre tickets in London" after rave reviews.
In 2013–14 she played Anne Faulkner in the theatrical version of Strangers on a Train at the Gielgud Theatre, produced by Barbara Broccoli.
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
Raison's first film role in 2000 was playing Marianne Faithfull in Suzy Q alongside Carice Van Houten
In 2004, Raison was cast as 'Heather' in Match Point, the first Woody Allen film to be made in London.
In 2005, she appeared in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, which she said "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 (2005–2009) in the BBC One television drama series Spooks (also broadcast under the title MI-5). 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.
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.
In 2010 after leaving Spooks, she played a model called Abbey in the ITV1 comedy-drama Married Single Other.