Steve Coogan

During the 1950s, his paternal grandfather established a dance hall for Irish immigrants.

Coogan attended St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School and Cardinal Langley Roman Catholic High School.

He has stated that he had a happy childhood, and his parents fostered children on a short-term basis.

He lived on Manchester New Road in Alkrington.

Stephen John Coogan (born 14 October 1965) is an English-Irish comedian, actor and screenwriter.

He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which he developed while working with Armando Iannucci on On the Hour and The Day Today.

Stephen John Coogan was born on 14 October 1965 in Middleton, Lancashire, the son of housewife Kathleen (née Coonan) and IBM engineer Anthony "Tony" Coogan.

He has four brothers and one sister, and was raised Roman Catholic in what he described as a "lower-middle or upper-working class" family which emphasised the values of education.

His younger brother Brendan was, for a few months, a presenter of Top Gear, while his elder brother Martin became the lead singer of rock band the Mock Turtles.

Coogan's mother is Irish and hails from County Mayo, while his father is also of Irish descent, his paternal grandparents – Margaret (from County Kilkenny) and Thomas Coogan (a tailor from County Cork) – having settled in Manchester shortly before the First World War.

Coogan began his career in the 1980s as a voice actor on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and providing voice-overs for television advertisements.

His father stood for the Lib-SDP in the May 1983 council elections in the South ward.

He passed two O-levels in 1983, which were likely re-take exams, when aged 17.

and in May 1984.

His father was chairman of the catholic grammar school's parents association, and protested against the proposal by the Salford Roman Catholic Diocesan Schools Commission to close the sixth form, which would not happen.

In 1984 he gained 4 A-levels: English Literature, British Government and Politics, Art, and General Studies.

In the same year his brother Kevin acquired nine O-levels at the same school, and took part in local and regional sports competitions, notably in basketball and cross country running.

His eldest sister trained to be a teacher at the nearby Hopwood Hall College.

As a family, it was assumed that all the children would become teachers.

Coogan had a talent for impersonation and wanted to go to drama school, despite being advised by a teacher that it could lead to a precarious profession.

After five failed applications to various drama schools in London, he received a place at the New Music theatre company before gaining a place at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama, where he met future collaborator John Thomson.

Coogan began his career as a comic and impressionist, performing regularly in Ipswich, before working as a voice artist for television advertisements and the satirical puppet show Spitting Image.

In 1989, he appeared in a series of specially shot sketches in the Observation round in the long-running ITV game show The Krypton Factor.

In 1992, Coogan won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his performance with long-time collaborator John Thomson, and starred alongside him and Caroline Aherne in a one-off Granada TV sketch show, The Dead Good Show.

His most prominent characters developed at this time were Paul Calf, a stereotypical working class Mancunian, and his sister Pauline, played by Coogan in drag.

While working on the Radio 4 comedy On the Hour, Coogan created Alan Partridge, a parody of British sports presenters, with producer Armando Iannucci.

Coogan described Partridge as a Little Englander, with right-wing values and poor taste.

He is socially inept, often offending his guests, and has an inflated sense of importance and celebrity.

According to Coogan, Partridge was originally a "one-note, sketchy character" and "freak show", but slowly became refined as a dysfunctional alter ego.

In 1992, Partridge hosted a spin-off Radio 4 spoof chat show, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge.

In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions with Henry Normal.

For his work he has garnered numerous accolades including four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award.

Coogan grew in prominence in the film industry in 2002, after starring in The Parole Officer and 24 Hour Party People.

He continued to appear in films such as Around the World in 80 Days (2004), Tropic Thunder (2008), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), Our Idiot Brother (2011), Ruby Sparks (2012), Irreplaceable You (2018), and Greed (2019).

He co-starred as himself with Rob Brydon in A Cock and Bull Story (2005), and the BBC series The Trip (2010), The Trip to Italy (2014), The Trip to Spain (2017), and The Trip to Greece (2020), all of which were condensed into films.

Coogan has also played dramatic roles, including Marie Antoinette (2006), What Maisie Knew (2012), The Look of Love (2013) and The Dinner (2017).

Partridge has featured in several television series and the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

In 2013, he co-wrote, produced, and starred in the film Philomena, which earned him nominations at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, and at the Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

For his portrayal of comic Stan Laurel in Stan & Ollie (2018) he earned a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination.

He portrayed Jimmy Savile in the BBC series The Reckoning (2023).