Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan, born with the name Stephen John Coogan, is an English actor, stand-up comedian, producer, impressionist, and screenwriter. He was born in Middleton, Lancashire. His mother Kathleen was a homemaker. His father, Anthony Coogan was an IBM engineer. His mother was Irish, and his father had an Irish descent. He completed his schooling from Cardinal Langley Roman Catholic High School.

He wanted to join a drama school, and after his five applications got rejected, he got into Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama. At the Manchester School of drama, he had an interaction with John Thomson with whom he collaborated in the later years. Before that, he was a part of theatre company New Music. He started his career as a comedian and impressionist and performed very often in Ipswich. Later in the 1980s, he worked on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image as a voice artist.

At that time, he also began doing voiceovers for television commercials. In 1989, he made an appearance on the ITV game show The Krypton Factor. Later on, he initiated making original comic characters in the 1990s. He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival, Fringe for his performance for the Granada TV sketch show, The Dead Good Show along with collaborator John Thomson also starring Caroline Aherne. In 1999, in partnership with Henry Normal, he co-founded a production company and named it Baby Cow Productions.

Some of the most exceptional characters developed by him at this time included Paul Calf, a typical Mancunian and his sister Pauline played by him in Drag. He presented as a sports reader on the television comedy The Day Today. He then hosted a chat show, Knowing You Knowing Me with Alan Partridge. Then the second season followed in 2002, and they received five BAFTA nominations for the show.

His most prominent character on television was Paul Calf which began in Coogan’s early stand-up comedy acts as Duncan Disorderly. This character came to the notice of the public with the Saturday Zoo, a late night show presented by Jonathan Ross. The part of Paul also appeared in two video diaries, an episode of Coogan’s run, and in some stand-up performances. Some of his developed characters also include Tommy Saxondale, Duncan Thicket, Ernets Eckler, and Tony Ferrino.

His most notable film roles include Tony Wilson in the film 24 Hour Party People, Mole in The Wind in The Willows, Phileas Fogg, Bruce Tick in Sweet Revenge, and Octavius in Night in The Museum followed by the roles in the sequels of the movie. His most acclaimed work is the drama-comedy Philomena. He has won various awards for stand-up, films, and TV which include Perrier Award, British Comedy Awards, BAFTAs, and The South Bank Show Award.

Coogan married Caroline Hickman in 2002, and they got divorced in 2005. He then dated China Cow for three years and split up. He also dated Loren Elle Bassey after meeting her while being a guest editor for Loaded. He has a daughter Clare Coogan-Cole with solicitor Anna Cole. He is also interested in Politics and supports the Labor Party.