• Faith: Judaism
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  February 03, 1976

Isla Fisher is an Australian author and actress. She moved to Australia when she was six, where she started appearing in television commercials. Fisher rose to prominence for playing Shannon Reed on the Australian soap opera “Home and Away” from 1994 to 1997, for which she received two Logie Award nominations. After several appearances on stage and television, Fisher successfully transitioned to Hollywood with her role as Mary Jane in 2002’s “Scooby-Doo.”

She’s since played prominent roles in movies like “Wedding Crashers,” “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” “Bachelorette,” “The Great Gatsby,” and “Now You See Me.” Her other notable film credits include “Swimming Pool,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “Wedding Daze,” “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” and “The Beach Bum.” Outside of film, Fisher played a recurring role in seasons four and five of “Arrested Development” and has starred in the comedy-drama series “Wolf Like Me” since 2022.

Fisher has also authored two young adult novels and the Marge in Charge book series. She’s married to Sacha Baron Cohen, and the couple share three children. The actress was born in Muscat, Oman, in 1976. Her family returned to their hometown of Bathgate, Scotland, then moved to Australia when Fisher was six. She has four brothers and said she had a “great” upbringing in Australia with a “very outdoorsy life.” She attended Swanbourne Primary School and Methodist Ladies’ College, Perth.

She appeared in lead roles in school productions like “Little Shop of Horrors.” When she was 21, Fisher attended L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, where she studied clown, mime, musical theatre and commedia dell’arte. Fisher made her first on-screen appearances in commercials on Australian television at the age of 9 and made her professional acting debut in 1993 with two guest-starring roles in the children’s television shows “Bay City” and “Paradise Beach.”

What religion is Isla Fisher?

Fisher converted to Judaism before marrying Baron Cohen. She said, “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.” In early 2007, after three years of study, Fisher completed her conversion. She took the Hebrew name Ayala, the Hebrew word for female deer, and has described herself as keeping the Jewish Sabbath.

Fisher added, “I love Judaism, the fact that there’s such a huge emphasis on family and, to me, family’s everything. We’re quite observant; we keep Shabbat and do Friday night dinner and celebrate the holidays. I really enjoy being part of that Jewish community. I have visited Israel recently, and I love it there. I speak a bit of Hebrew, and they recognize me from Home And Away, so it’s great.”