Miranda Raison was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England. Raison is one of five siblings. She has two brothers and two sisters each, namely, Ed, Rosie, Sam and May. Their father, Nick, is a jazz pianist while their mother, Caroline, read the news for Anglia Television. Her older brother Ed is the bassist of the country singer Stonewall Jackson. Raison trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art before becoming a professional actor. She has made appearances on stage, film and television. Among her notable big screen performances were with Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen’s Match Point, where she worked with her MI-5 co-star Rupert Penry-Jones.
Miranda Raison began her television career with appearances in series like Sunburn, Dark Realm, Holby City and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. She was cast in the made-for-TV film Perfect Strangers in 2001, and was later seen in two episodes of Emmerdale Farm. After a recurring role in Heartbeat, Raison landed a role in the short drama The Deal, written and directed by Jimmy Whedon. She later made a notable appearance as Svetlana in the Rob Schneider comedy Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo in 2005. Her next big role was alongside Ralph Fiennes, playing Daisy in Land of the Blind. In April 2007, Raison acted in two episodes of the hit series Doctor Who, portraying a show girl named Tullulah. She returned as a guest on the second series of Totally Doctor Who as well, appearing on the fourth episode. That year, she worked with Duncan James, Rory Kinnear and Nigel Harman in the Channel 4 Comedy Showcase episode “Plus One.” Since 2005, Miranda Raison has been portraying the field operative Jo Portman on the spy series MI-5. In 2008, she worked on two short films, namely Heavenscent and Exit Strategy. She later appeared in got a role in Agatha Christie: Poirot, in the episode “Cat Among the Pigeons.”
(Photo courtesy of BBC)