Lara Pulver

Lara Pulver is an English actress who has performed extensively across stage, television, and film. Born on 1 September 1980, she has built a diverse career in British and international productions. She is widely recognized for her award-winning theatrical performances as well as prominent roles in major television dramas and feature films.

Pulver was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, and was raised in a village close to Sevenoaks, Kent. She grew up alongside an older sister who later became a teacher. Her father comes from a Jewish background, and her mother converted to Judaism upon their marriage. Between 1994 and 1998, Pulver trained with the National Youth Music Theatre and attended the Liz Burville Dance Centre in Bexley. She subsequently pursued higher performance studies at Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts from 1997 until her graduation in 2000.

Her early career featured substantial achievements on stage. She earned an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for portraying Lucille Frank in the inaugural West End staging of Parade at the Donmar Warehouse, a role she later repeated in Los Angeles. Over her stage career, she has appeared in productions such as Into the Woods, The Last Five Years, High Society, Chicago, Guys and Dolls, and Fiddler on the Roof. Her performance as Louise in a revival of Gypsy earned her the 2016 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical following runs at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Savoy Theatre.

In television, Pulver established a strong screen presence with several high-profile roles. In 2009, she joined the cast of Robin Hood as Isabella, followed by a role as Sookie Stackhouse's fairy godmother, Claudine Crane, in HBO's True Blood in 2010. She joined the spy drama Spooks as Section D chief Erin Watts for its tenth series, later reprising the character in the 2015 feature film Spooks: The Greater Good. She also portrayed Irene Adler in the Sherlock episode "A Scandal in Belgravia," an appearance that generated significant public response and became part of the most-watched program on BBC iPlayer in early 2012.

Pulver's screen portfolio continued to expand with regular and guest roles in television series such as Da Vinci's Demons, Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, The Split, and Maternal. She has also contributed voice work to animated projects including The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, Dota: Dragon's Blood, and Blood of Zeus, along with video game projects such as Game of Thrones and Dota 2.

In 2025, Pulver appeared as Bella Harrigan in the Paramount+ crime drama series MobLand, directed by Guy Ritchie. Outside of acting, she was previously married to actor Josh Dallas from December 2007 until their divorce was confirmed in late 2011. She began dating actor Raza Jaffrey in 2012, and the couple married in December 2014; they have two children together.