If you don’t know much about Isla Fisher, it’s time to get acquainted.
After all, this hilarious, adorable, and fiery redhead is about the only hilarious and memorable part of Wedding Crashers . And she didn’t even have a lead role!
But a lot of people don’t know that she’s actually an Australian actress! Or that she writes children’s books. For more, here are 10+ interesting things about her.
1. She grew up in Australia:
The Wedding Crashers star moved to Australia with her Scottish parents from Oman when she was just six.
This meant that she had what she called a ” great outdoorsy upbringing ” in Perth.
2. She was on an Aussie soap opera:
In her late teens and early 20s, she played Shannon on the show Home and Away .
She once told The Guardian that the show taught her how to look good in a bikini.
It also taught her how to deliver bad dialogue convincingly.
“For a long time I was auditioning for films that weren’t very good, but I’d get called back because I could make a terrible line sound real. For that I’ll always be grateful.”
3. Lady Gaga once mistook her for Amy Adams:
Yes, she’s well aware that she’s looks just like Amy Adams.
When she was on Jimmy Kimmel Live , she recounted the hilarious mixup involving Lady Gaga. This happened at the Vanity Fair afterparty for the Oscars.
Lady Gaga came up to Isla and said that she loved her performance in *American Hustle*.
But then, the real Amy Adams walked into the party, and Fisher pointed her out:
“I’m like, ‘There’s Isla Fisher. She’s not even nominated for anything, what’s she doing here?’”
4. She doesn’t want to do a lead role in a movie:
“That doesn’t interest me,” she told The Scotsman .
“The hours, being away from my young family, the pressure of having to open a movie. Once you go down that road it feels creatively and emotionally and mentally and physically way too challenging for me.”
She said that being a side characters means that you get all the perks of the job without the heavy workload.
“You get to do great work, you get to carry the emotional arc of the movie, you can take more risks creatively because it’s a smaller role so you can really push yourself to try new things.”
5. Previously, she starred as the lead in *Confessions of a Shopaholic*, which she was not fond of.
“You’re the first one on set everyday, the last one home. They put your head on a poster – it’s a lot.”
6. She’s married to Sasha Baron Cohen:
Isla first met the Borat actor in 2002 at a party in Australia.
They started dating after that, got engaged in 2004, and eventually married in 2010. Isla even converted to Judaism for him!
Fisher has jokingly said how “embarrassing” it is to be married to him.
That’s because he’s always playing wacky characters! As for which one is her favorite, Baron revealed that it’s Brüno.
“Probably the best was Brüno because of the personal hygiene. Brüno showered, shaved, waxed.”
7. She prioritizes motherhood over acting:
She has three children with her husband: two daughters, Olive and Elula, and one son, Montgomery.
“For me, motherhood comes first and so I loved the experience of that but doing these ensembles like The Great Gatsby and Now You See Me and working on Arrested Development,” she told The Scotsman .
8. She went to a clowning and mime school:
Yes, really. This happened when the actress was 21 and she moved to Paris to attend the Lecoq Theatre School.
Clowning around wasn’t easy, as she once revealed that she struggled with juggling balls.
“I didn’t have the speciality,” she said in an interview with The Project.
“I was one of the last people in the whole class to really be able to get three balls in the air,” she continued, before quickly noting in her signature humor, “That’s not a euphemism.”
9. She’s written several children’s novels:
The book series is called Marge in Charge and it’s about an eccentric babysitter named Marge.
She spoke to CBC Radio about why she prefers writing for kids. “I love being lost in the mind of tiny people,” she said.
“And sort of solving their little problems and issues and excitement.”
She continued on, laughing over how she doesn’t think she has what it takes to write for adults.
“I’m not one of those writers who wants to write fantastic fiction or science fiction. That doesn’t appeal to me.”
10. She grew up with four brothers:
This is something that brought out her tomboy side.
“I was a tomboy and enjoyed being the only girl. I’m at ease around men as an adult – I’m sure it’s because I grew up with so many boys.”
11. She speaks French:
This is something that she learned while studying at a clown school in France (that sentence will never not be funny).
But initially, she had trouble with the language. “I didn’t speak French and I felt so out of my depth.”
“I was terrified [but] eventually I broke through – my French became fluent and I enjoyed performing in a way that I hadn’t in a long time.”
Since she now resides with her family in both Los Angeles and London, there’s a good chance that she’s in desperate need to brush up on her French.
12. She values her privacy more than anything:
“Living so publicly via something like Twitter is overwhelming to me,” she once said .
“I don’t talk about motherhood or my marriage – ever [she is married to Sacha Baron Cohen]. My children are my favourite topic privately, but I believe my daughters deserve to have a normal upbringing.”
