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Stephen (Steve) John Coogan (born 14 October, 1965) is an English actor, impressionist, and comedian.

Background

Coogan is one of six children born to Irish immigrant Roman Catholic parents. He was born and raised in Middleton, near Rochdale, in Greater 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.

Career

Alan Partridge

Coogan started out as a stand-up comic and mimic, as well as doing voice over work for adverts and impressions on Spitting Image. He also acted on the observation round on The Krypton Factor. 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 roles

Other Coogan creations include Duncan Thicket, Tony Ferrino and Paul and Pauline Calf. Other TV shows include Coogan's Run, Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible and several voices in the animated series I Am Not an Animal. In 2003 he starred in the BBC2 comedy The Private Life of Samuel Pepys, directed by film director Oliver Parker. He also played Factory Records boss, Tony Wilson in the UK film 24 Hour Party People, Mole in Terry Jones' The Wind in the Willows and Phileas Fogg in a remake of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan. He played himself in one of the vignettes of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes, alongside Alfred Molina. In the same year, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. He also wrote and starred in The Parole Officer.

Current activities

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. 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 [1]. The news came a month after Coogan had divorced his wife [2] (whom he married in 2002) on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour, but has been dismissed by Coogan's publicist. Love has also denied that she had ever made the statement.

In 2006 Coogan starred with Rob Brydon in A Cock and Bull Story, a self-referential film of the "unfilmable" self-referential novel Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, followed by a supporting role in a Marie Antoinette bio-pic, directed by Sofia Coppola. On television, he starred in a 7 part sitcom called Saxondale. Following the life of Tommy Saxondale, an "ex-roadie turned pest control officer" [3], the series aired in the UK on June 19, 2006 on BBC 2.

On radio, Coogan made a guest appearance in the second episode of the second series of the radio comedy series Nebulous in 2006.

During 2006, Coogan filmed Hot Fuzz, scripted by Shaun of the Dead writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. He is due to partner Ben Stiller in a motion picture remake of The Persuaders! and rumours persist that a 2007 big screen outing is planned for his signature character, Alan Partridge. [4] [5].

External links

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

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