BIOG
Miranda Hart is a comedy writer and performer for stage, Radio and Television. She was nominated for a British Comedy Award in 2006 for her role in the sci-fi sitcom Hyperdrive and has many other memorable credits to her name including roles in Not Going Out, Jack Dee’s Lead Balloon, Ab Fab, Angelos, Nighty Night and Smack the Pony. Miranda gained her reputation as one of our top, up and coming comediennes from her stand-up and sketch stage shows at the Edinburgh Festival over the last 10 years. They included Miranda Hart-Throbs! and Miranda Hart's House Party which ran at the Pleasance, Edinburgh and then at the Soho Theatre in London. Her role as a stand-up recently earned her a successful appearance on Have I Got News For You. This year she has written and starred in her own sitcom MIRANDA which starts on BBC 2 on the 9th November.
give us some facts about yourself Miranda
- I was born in Torquay in 1972.
- I got a 2:1 in Politics at University in Bristol.
- I did a PostGrad Acting Course at ALRA in London.
- I first went to the Edinburgh Festival in 1994 with a terrible show called Hurrell and Hart and said to myself 'if I get one OK review and one night with more than 20 people in the audience then I am going to try and do this for a living'. That year Hurrell and Hart received one very OK 3 star review in the Scotsman and had one night with 21 people - I was on my way!
- Before making a living out of acting I worked as an office manager and PA in the charity sector - Macmillan Cancer Relief and Comic Relief.
- I used to have severe agoraphobia.
- I am obsessed with animals and have a gorgeous dog called Peggy.
- I am 6ft 1".
- I am a fan of pop and wanted to be the 6th Spice Girl - 'Enormous' Spice.
- My lifes ambition is to be the Ladies Tennis Champion at Wimbledon.
- I still haven't confronted the fact that the above is never going to happen. Although I am not bad at Tennis - I have a wicked serve. It's the height. And try passing me at the net. Again, the height.
tv
Miranda filmed her first series for BBC 2 this year. It’s a sitcom called MIRANDA which recently had an outing as a series on Radio 2. She has just finished filming for a new comedy drama called Monday Monday for ITV starring Fay Ripley, in which she plays Tall Karen. It will be out early 2009. In 2007 Miranda starred in a second series of Hyperdrive, (the first series of which she was nominated for a British Comedy Award), she played Shelley in critically acclaimed Angelos for Channel 5 and played Barbara in Lee Mack’s sitcom Not Going Out on BBC 1. She has also recently completed a pilot for ITV called The Abbey with an all star cast including Russell Brand, Morwenna Banks, Omid Djalli and Liz Smith. And has popped up in the following BBC shows: Jack Dees Lead Balloon, Rush Hour, My Family and Other Animals, Nighty Night, French and Saunders, Ab Fab and Vicar of Dibley. She did the third series of Smack the Pony that was screened throughout 2002 on Channel 4 and E4.
films
In 2006 Miranda filmed two cameo scenes for British films I Want Candy and The Magicians. In 2001 Miranda filmed her first drama role when she played the lead in a feature film called Mothers and Daughters which was taken to Cannes in 2004.
commercials
Miranda has done a few commercials including a Maltesers campaign and the Alpen ads with Arabella Weir. In December 2005 Miranda filmed one of the Nationwide adverts with Mark Benton. She is fine about the fact that it never went on air.
radio
Miranda did her first Radio 4 comedy in 2001 and 2002 when she played Rose, along side Geoffrey Palmer and Angela Thorne, in the critically acclaimed comedy drama At Home with the Snails by Gerard Foster.
Recently Miranda wrote and performed in a monologue for women's hour called The Hills Are Alive, a piece based around her real life experiences of living with agoraphobia in her 20's.
Throughout 2007 and 2008 Miranda appeared in the following Radio 4 panel shows: Banter, 99p Challenge, Clive Anderson's Chat Room and Armando Ianucci's Charm Offensive.
Miranda had a sketch show on Radio 4 – Miranda Hart’s House Party – in 2008, plus a Radio 2 of her sitcom Miranda Hart’s Joke Shop.
writing
Miranda writes all her solo shows and stand-up. She is currently beginning the massive task for writing her first, and hopefully not last, TV series.
Edinburgh Festival shows
Miranda gained her reputation as one of our top, up and coming comediennes from her stage shows at the Edinburgh Festival over the last 10 years.
- 2005: Miranda Hart's House Party, Pleasance. With Neil Edmond from the Consultants.
- 2004: Finger Food Assembly Rooms. With Helen Lederer.
- 2003: It’s All About Me! Pleasance. One woman show - mix of character and stand-up.
- 2002: Miranda Hart-Throbs! Pleasance. A one woman show with a difference - Miranda played a character who was in understudy rehearsals for a sketch show.
- 2001: The Sitcom Trials Gilded Balloon.
- 1999-2000: The Orange Girls Gilded Balloon. Character comedy double act with Charity Trimm.
other theatre
Miranda has starred in all of theatre company, Recorded Deliveries, shows (www.recordeddelivery.net), including the Time Out Award Winning Come Out Eli. In June 2006 Miranda played the lead in the companies new play Cruising at the Bush Theatre, London. See reviews.
