STEVE COOGAN

'Stephen John "Steve" Coogan' (born 14 October 1965) is an English actor, impressionist, and comedian. His best known character in the UK is Alan Partridge, the grotesque sports reporter-turned-television chat show host-turned-regional radio presenter who featured in several television series, such as ''The Day Today'', ''Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge'' and ''I'm Alan Partridge''. Outside of the UK, Coogan is more well known for his film roles.

Contents

Background

Career

Early years

Alan Partridge

Other TV roles

Film roles

Achievements

Production company

Personal life

References and footnotes

External links

Background

Coogan is one of six children born to Irish immigrant Roman Catholic parents. He was born and raised in Middleton, just north of the city of Manchester. One of his brothers, Brendan, is a former ''Top Gear'' presenter, and another, Martin, was the lead singer of the early 1990s band The Mock Turtles. All the brothers attended the Cardinal Langley RC High School.

Career

Early years

Coogan started out as a stand-up comic and mimic, as well as doing voiceover work for adverts and impressions on ''Spitting Image''. He also acted on the observation round on ''The Krypton Factor'' during 1989-1991.

Alan Partridge

He teamed up with Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci, amongst others, on the Radio 4 comedy show ''On The Hour'', where he helped give birth to his most famous creation Alan Partridge. Alan went on to have his own radio show and also appeared on TV in ''The Day Today'' and his own chat show, ''Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge''. In 1997 he bounced back with the sitcom ''I'm Alan Partridge'', which was followed by a second series in 2002.

Other TV roles

Other notable Coogan creations include Tommy Saxondale, Duncan Thicket, Tony Ferrino, Paul Calf and his sister Pauline Calf. Duncan Thicket has appeared on a tour of live shows. Other TV shows he has starred in include ''Coogan's Run'', ''Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible'', ''Monkey Trousers'' and ''Saxondale''. Coogan has provided voices for the animated series ''I Am Not an Animal'', the one-off BBC2 comedy about sheep ''Combat Sheep'', the Christmas specials ''Robbie The Reindeer'', and an episode of the BBC Radio Four spoof sci-fi series ''Nebulous''.
He has starred in BBC2's ''The Private Life of Samuel Pepys'' in 2003, and ''Cruise of the Gods'' in 2002. In 2006, he had a cameo in the Little Britain Christmas special as a Pilot taking Lou and Andy to Disneyland. In 2007, Coogan will be seen playing a psychiatrist on HBO's ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''.

Film roles

Notable film roles include Tony Wilson, Factory Records boss in the film ''24 Hour Party People'', Mole in Terry Jones' ''The Wind in the Willows'', Phileas Fogg in a remake of Jules Verne's ''Around the World in 80 Days'' with Jackie Chan, Ambassador Mercy in ''Marie Antoinette'' and Octavius, the first Roman emperor and nephew to Julius Caesar, in ''Night at the Museum''. He has also played himself twice on screen. First, in one of the vignettes of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film ''Coffee and Cigarettes'', alongside Alfred Molina. Second, in 2006 Coogan starred with Rob Brydon in Michael Winterbottom's ''A Cock and Bull Story'', a self-referential film of the "unfilmable" self-referential novel ''Tristram Shandy'' by Laurence Sterne. In the film, Coogan plays a fictional, womanizing version of himself.
The first film he co-wrote with Henry Normal was ''The Parole Officer''. He also acted in this alongside Ben Miller and Lena Headey. Coogan has an uncredited cameo in ''Hot Fuzz'', scripted by ''Shaun of the Dead'' writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. Coogan's inclusion may be construed as a show of gratitude from Pegg, because Coogan brought Pegg along on his comedy tour ''Steve Coogan: The Man Who Thinks He's It''.
He is rumoured to partner his ''Night at the Museum'' co-star Ben Stiller in a motion picture remake of ''The Persuaders!''. Furthermore, rumours persist that a 2009 big screen outing is planned for his signature character, Alan Partridge ^[1][2].
Coogan was to be working with pal Owen Wilson on the upcoming film ''Tropic Thunder'', however Owen Wilson's attempted suicide has caused the film to come to a crashing halt.
It was announced on 8 August 2007 that he is to star in a film adaptation of the life of Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards ^[3].

Achievements

He has won numerous awards for his work in TV including British Comedy Awards, BAFTAs, and The South Bank Show award for comedy. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2005, a poll to find ''The Comedian's Comedian'' saw him being voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

Production company

Coogan, along with writing partner Henry Normal, founded Baby Cow Productions in 1999. Together they are the executive producers for such shows as ''The Mighty Boosh'', starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt, ''Nighty Night'', starring Julia Davis, and ''Marion and Geoff'', starring Rob Brydon. Baby Cow Productions latest venture is Where Are The Joneses the world first daily online comedy sitcom which uses wiki technology to allow the audience to upload scripts, storyline ideas etc.

Personal life

A favourite of the British tabloids, Coogan's personal life has made headlines since the early nineties. In August 2005, the ''News of the World'' stated that rock star Courtney Love had claimed to be pregnant with Coogan's child, following a two-week long fling the pair allegedly had while staying at the same hotel, although this claim has been dismissed by both parties [1]. The news came a month after Coogan had divorced his wife, Caroline Hickman, [2] (whom he married in 2002) on the grounds that the marriage had irretrievably broken down.
He has a daughter Clare from a previous relationship with Anna Cole. He lives in Brighton but still journeys north to watch Manchester United football club.
Some production staff working with Coogan are known to have objected to his "method" performance of Alan Partridge—maintaining the thoroughly unpleasant character from makeup to final call.
In August 2007, the New York Post wrote that Coogan was being "blamed" in a story following Owen Wilson's suicide attempts for allegedly supplying the actor with amount of hard drugs. Courtney Love said after Wilson's failed attempts, "I was just out of rehab, and he was right there with the drugs. I tried to warn Owen. I tried to warn his friends. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Owen stays the hell away from that guy." Steve Coogan responded through Access Hollywood, denying Love's accusations and offering support to Wilson.
"My thoughts are with my friend Owen at this difficult time, but I do want to set the record straight and say that the allegations . . . are completely and utterly false," he said.
An email was said to have been sent from Love to Coogan, which read: "You must feel really great right now. Does this feel life-affirming?"
^{[4] [5]}.

References and footnotes

1. Coogan plans Alan Partridge movie'
2. I Am Not Alan Partridge'
3. Coogan to play Eddie 'The Eagle'
4. Owen's 'Coke And Heroin' Breakdown
5. Coogan the Barbarian: The truth about the man who 'drove Owen Wilson to the brink of suicide'

External links

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★ Coming to a cinema near you... Alan Partridge as Our Man in Tashkent

★ Official Steve Coogan Fan Listing