'I don't take lead roles now that I'm a mother': Great Gatsby star Isla Fisher says her two little girls always come first

  • Isla Fisher has two daughters with comedian husband Sacha Baron Cohen,
  • Olive, 5, and Elula Lottie Miriam, 2
  • Worked for 10 days in The Great Gatsby, 30 in upcoming Now You See Me
  • Got big break in Australian soap Home And Away...
  • ... then went to clown school in Paris to learn about physical comedy

By Martha De Lacey

Published: | Updated:


It's a decision all working women must make if and when they become mothers: do I stay at home with the children? Do I go back to work? Or do I try and do both?

And Australian actress Isla Fisher, most recently seen in her supporting role as Myrtle Wilson in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, has found a way to keep doing the job she loves while ensuring her two young daughters get all the love and attention she needs.

The 37-year-old - who has two girls, Olive Baron Cohen, five, and two-year-old Elula Lottie Miriam Cohen with her comedian and actor husband Sacha Baron Cohen, also known as Ali G, Borat and Bruno - said she simply no longer accepts lead roles in films.

Isla Fisher - here pictured arriving at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, in January - says she never accepts lead roles now she's a mother

Isla Fisher - here pictured arriving at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, in January - says she never accepts lead roles now she's a mother

Isla Fisher attends a birthday party with daughters Olive Cohen and Elula Lottie Miriam Cohen at The Coldwater Park in Beverly Hills

Isla Fisher attends a birthday party with daughters Olive Cohen and Elula Lottie Miriam Cohen at The Coldwater Park in Beverly Hills


Speaking to omg! about her new movie Now You See Me, Fisher said: 'I'm very cautious about what I take, I don't take the lead role - I'm never interested in being the lead role in anything.

'In the Great Gatsby I only worked for ten days, and in this movie I worked 29 or 31 days and they were very spread out.

'So actually I am very fortunate that I get to spend way more time with my family than other working mums - so I can't complain!'

Fisher, who got her big break as a teenager in Home And Away, enrolled in a Parisian clown school after leaving the Australian soap - Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris - where she learned how to do physical comedy.

She met English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in 2002 at a party in Sydney, and the pair became engaged in 2004, finally marrying in Paris in March 2010.

Isla Fisher in 2007 when she was pregnant with her first daughter Olive
Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher at the World Premiere of Les Miserables in London in December 2012

Fisher said of her husband: 'I would do anything - move into any religion - to be united in marriage with him. We have a future together, and religion comes second to love as far as we are concerned'

Fisher converted to Judaism in order to marry Cohen, saying at the time: 'I will definitely have a Jewish wedding just to be with Sacha. I would do anything - move into any religion - to be united in marriage with him. We have a future together, and religion comes second to love as far as we are concerned.'

Sasha Baron Cohen holds his Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy for 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' in 2007

Sasha Baron Cohen holds his Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy for 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' in 2007

She even credits her husband as the reason she found her way into comic films, telling The Examiner: 'Well, actually, Sacha was the reason I got into comedy. I was actually auditioning for a lot of dramatic roles and having no success at all.

'I was losing confidence in my abilities when he recommended that I do comedy. He felt I was really funny, so when someone as funny as him recommends that, I listened and actually auditioned for Wedding Crashers, which ended up being my big break.'

But when it comes to choosing between acting and motherhood, motherhood always wins, and as such she keeps her private life fiercely guarded from the media.

'Motherhood is my favorite topic, personally. But I don't discuss it professionally because she [then Olive, her only daughter] did not choose to be in the business.

'She is not an actress and she has the right to privacy. I have not worked for eight months and I have been able to focus on being a mom.'

Fisher teams up with Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Dave Franco in Now You See Me, a heist drama in which a quartet of illusionists known as the Four Horsemen attempt to rob a bank without leaving the performance stage.

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