Isla Fisher

Isla Fisher was born on February 3, 1976, in Muscat, the capital of the Middle Eastern nation of Oman. When Isla was a young child, her Scottish parents moved her and her four brothers to Australia. There, inspired by the literary achievements of her novelist mother and the encouraging words of her banker father, Isla was permitted the freedom to follow her own path. Even as a primary school student, Isla was using her free reign to pursue a budding interest in acting. By age 9, she was appearing in Australian television commercials, her first gig coming as an extra in a lottery ad. From then on, Isla realized that acting truly was her passion. In 1993, Isla won roles in the TV dramas Bay Cove and Paradise Beach. Though her work in both series lasted only about one full season each, Fisher was more than pleased with the exposure that these experiences provided. Isla's visibility jumped to that of minor celebrity after it was revealed that this young star had been stopped by the police for public nudity during a wild vacation with friends in Western Australia. Fisher's first serious role came in Home and Away, a soap opera series in which she played the seductive Shannon Reed from 1994 until 1997. The character was very promiscuous in the show, and this fueled many men's fantasies about the actress behind the role. By the time that Shannon was finally written off the show (the writers had her run away with a lesbian lover), Isla was looked upon as a full-fledged hottie. In fact, in 1998, readers of FHM voted her as the 11th sexiest woman in the world. In 2006, Fisher starred as Becca, a Manhattan party host in the offbeat relationship drama London co-starring Jessica Biel, Chris Evans and Jason Statham. In 2007 she appeared in The Lookout, a thriller co-starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Matthew Goode, and Hot Rod, opposite Andy Samberg. She will next appear in Wedding Daze, co-starring Jason Biggs, Definitely, Maybe, with Rachel Weisz and Abigail Breslin, and will have a voice role in Horton Hears a Who! Fisher has also co-written a treatment for a script entitled Groupies with Amy Poehler, as well as another project entitled The Cookie Queen. She was scheduled to appear in The Simpsons Movie, although her appearance was cut from the final version. Fisher signed up to act in the movie adaption of the book Confessions of a Shopaholic, the filming of which will start in January 2008. Fisher resides in Los Angeles, California, as well as in London, with her fiancé, English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. She reportedly has converted to Judaism in advance of her marriage to Cohen, who is Jewish. As of March 2007, the two have not yet set a date for their wedding.