Isla is known for her quick wit and funny one-liners, and usually has lots to say to interviewers. Browse back through some of our favourite words of wisdom from Miss Fisher, plus find quotes from other celebrities talking about Isla:

 

• “I have never been a big fan of working out and I’ve never been a sporty person – I was always more of a book worm. I know it sounds like a cliché, but I’ve been blessed with good genes. My mum is little, and I’m fortunate that I don’t like eating junk food. I just don’t like the taste of it.”

• “I love religions and find them fascinating and I find Judaism very beautiful. It’s enriched my life enormously.”

• “Do I work out? Gosh no. I’m not a big fan of that. So how do you look like this? Um. I don’t like to say it but I am fortunate in that I just have good genes. My mum is small and so am I.”

• “I like to embrace my differences.”

• “My only disappointment is that I haven’t grown any taller!” (2009)

• “When you’re younger, being a redhead is… well, my two brothers teased me no end. So I was really excited to see a redhead on film. But also my mum was in amateur dramatics and I would go every night and sit in the wings and watch her on stage, so… I saw practically what it was like – the excitement and exhilaration of being on stage, backstage, watching make-up being put on, the costume changes.” (on Ann-Margret)

• “I miss Tim Tams and Bondi Beach and the smell of suncream. I think if you were to generalise about an Aussie then I’m an example of one.”

• “I have very eclectic taste in music. I like everything from Nirvana, which is featured in the film [Definitely, Maybe], to world music, to orchestral and jazz. For me, the 90s were about Oasis, because I was travelling around Britain when that band exploded onto the music scene.”

• “I don’t have many boundaries on what I’ll joke about in my personal life.”

• “My first job was collecting horse poop, and putting it in sacks. And selling it on the other side of the road. For a dollar! And it’s quite a lot of work. I would say that seventy poops go into one of those big sacks. And let me tell you, you have the gloves on at the beginning. And then you think, this is taking too long. And before you know it, there are no gloves! And you’re just picking up the poop. But it’s dried poop, rest assured. I’m going to regret saying that! Too late!”

• “Tweezers, because I can look like a she-wolf if I’m not careful.” (on what beauty tool she’d grab if her house was on fire)

• “Find your inner idiot.” (on her secret to success)

• “I am still learning about Judaism and I love it.”

• “Yes, I’m studying it at the moment and I’m really enjoying it. My best girlfriend, Arlene, studied theology and got me interested in religion. She’s quite an expert. I started studying religions years ago and became fascinated by it all. Judaism is such a beautiful, old religion thats so rich in culture. I don’t come from a religious household, but I did go to a Methodist high school. I’ve always had a strong spiritual sense.” (on Judaism)

• “It’s such a common phenomenon – women will do it, too. Everybody wants to pick you up when you’re this height. I don’t mind it, but when it happens so many times, it gets a bit uncomfortable. I do prefer it to a patronizing pat on the head, though.” (on being picked up – literally)

• “Both my parents are Scottish. I’m named after the island of Islay where they make whisky!”

• “These days I am very much a girlie girl. I used to be a tomboy, always outdoors. I grew up with a lot of brothers, so this is all different for me. Now I have a great group of girlfriends and no men in the gang. Don’t know why — I guess they don’t fit into the girlie dinners and teas and going out in a posse.”

• “It was always said with a wink, but that wink never came across. So I have had to shut myself up, because I have more to protect now. Some subjects are off limits, I’m afraid.” (on learning how to speak to journalists these days)

• “My friend’s daughter, who’s 8, gets all the clothes I buy but never wear. I’m embarrassed that I’m that small.” (speaking in 2009)

• “I never work out. I just don’t enjoy it. I gained 60 pounds during my pregnancy, so [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer hired me a trainer for Confessions of a Shopaholic. But the trainer said I had a bad attitude. He told me I was genetically blessed because I’m little, but he did warn me that it was gonna catch up with me. I didn’t feel self-conscious about my body until I had a baby, and now I think, ‘Thank God there’s a photograph of my thighs when they looked like that.’”

• “I’ve always been the clown of my family and I’ve always just enjoyed mucking about and I’m just fortunate that I get paid to do that now.”

• “I love book stores. I spend a lot of time in book stores, and I love cook books, at the moment I’ve got loads of cook books. I love to cook. And I love hardware stores. I think they’re just really exciting. I think a hardware store can be really fun. You know there’s paint, and plants and umbrellas, and deck furniture, drills.”

• “I try to, but because of my height, sometimes it’s difficult. There’s nothing like trying to put up a picture when you’re my height.” (on doing her own DIY)

• “I’m a big fan of Monty Python and Blackadder and all the other old British comedies. And I just love the Australian comedy show Kath & Kim. Its so good. Its one of the funniest Australian shows ever I love how they say, Look at me, Look at me.” (on what makes her laugh)

• “When you keep moving, you get better with finding tools to connect with people, and humor is one of them.” (on her nomadic upbringing)

• “I basically had ears this size when I was two and I didn’t grow into them, so I tended to make people laugh and muck around, which was always fun.”

• “I hold my own when it comes to getting the laughs. I definitely enjoy comedy and having a great laugh. I love going to see comedy films, and I love being around funny people.”

• “When you’re younger, being a redhead is… Well, my two brothers teased me no end. So I was really excited to see a redhead (Ann Margret) on film. But, also, my mum was in amateur dramatics and I’d go and sit in the wings and watch her onstage. I saw what it was like – the excitement and exhilaration of being onstage, backstage, watching make-up being put on, the costume changes.”

• “I think your heart dances to the beat of your own drum, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

• “I definitely feel I’m Australian, and I have a laid-back attitude to life that is very Australian. I also love a good barbie! I just have to think of Bondi Beach and I get a strong longing to be there on the sand with the smell of suntan cream and hamburgers.”

• “It’s the ultimate way for me to express myself.” (on acting)

• “I was a daredevil as a kid and loved to skateboard. I never remember my knees or shins or elbows without scabs on them. I have two brothers and two stepbrothers so I was a real tomboy, leading a pretty outdoorsy lifestyle. I rode horses for years and used to do cross-country one-day and three-day eventing.”

• “I’ve always been strange. My mum used to call me eccentric when I was like three – my ears were this size when I was just two years old! I’ve always been different. What can I say?”

• “We were very nomadic as kids and travelled a lot, and I’m sure, just to kind of fit into a new school, I sort of used comedy as a tool to make friends.”

• “I always liked Elvis Presley when I was younger – I told anyone who would listen that I was going to marry that man. I didn’t realize then that he had died.”

• “That what’s great about life, at least from my perspective. I try to keep it as an open book and not really pin my hopes on anything. I don’t know if that’s healthy or not. I’ve just been like that since I was a kid. So, I’ve always been incredibly surprised that I’m employed, married, have a wonderful family, like everything feels like a bonus for me.” (on finding what you’re looking for, even if it’s not what you expect)

• “It’s nice to have goals. Equally, it’s nice to let situations in life guide you into new beginnings or openings that you might not have envisioned for yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone by being open to doing something potentially that wasn’t necessarily in your wheelhouse, to quote Americans.”

 

• “I know that a lot of Australians come to the States with those ambitions of really wanting to act, but weirdly enough, I only came out here for the premiere of Scooby Doo, which was when I was offered representation and got a job almost straight away.”

• “I got rejected a lot and it takes a while to kind of get your lucky break, I suppose.”

• “I was young. You’re told to pose in a bikini and it never crossed my mind you could say no.” – on baring all for magazine photoshoots in the 90’s

• “I think dramatic acting involves a lot more work, so I’m happy now to be lighter; if you will. I’m very comfortable now in the genre of comedy.”

• “Sacha noticed it first (having a talent for comedy). I was auditioning for all these dramatic roles, and I’d read the scenes through with him. He’d laugh and say, ‘You should be doing comedy, you’re one of the funniest women I’ve met!’ I’d never considered comedy but I felt that it was such a huge compliment coming from him that I went ahead. Wedding Crashers was one of the first comedy films I went for.”

• “I totally hate the puritanical approach to the whole nudity thing, but then when it comes to me I have double standards. No way am I doing anything like that.”

• “I’m choosy, definitely,. I’ve made a lot of product in my life that I’m not proud of. I’ve had to work. Now that I’m fortunate enough to get to choose, I’m fussy. Now, I don’t have to make decisions as much from fear. It’s given me freedom.”

• “I think there is a lack of quality roles for women in comedies. Most actresses get cast as the ‘eye-roller’ or ‘the serious one’, while men in comedies get to do all the fun, silly stuff and muck around. Sometimes you just have to search hard for a role or create one for yourself.”

• “I prefer stories that are real and grounded, set in real life.”

• “I think kissing scenes always feel awkward but there’s just no way around it. But it’s a part of the job.”

• “There are different figures of women I would like to play. I would have loved to have played Katherine Hepburn and Cate Blanchett did such an amazing job. Every woman would love to have played Joan of Arc… all the great ones get taken, let’s be honest. I would have like to have played in Babe 3, that pig in the movie, she had some great little squeals. I do a great pig noise.”

• “I would love to play Lady Macbeth. It’s the greatest role in the world – ‘Out down spot! I mean, ‘Out damn spot!’ Doing theatre in London is a dream of mine, but I’m enjoying doing comedy right now.”

• “I still write. I’d love to write more trashy chick-lit. At the moment I just rewrite my own lines, which probably annoys most directors – though, thankfully not Adam Brooks!”

• “I love great, flawed characters – with them you can really inhabit the emotional landscape.”

• “I don’t think you ever get it ‘down’ down. Because when you get emotional, or cry or get angry, you tend to slip back into your own dialect. Because your mouth is a muscle, and it forgets.” (on her American accent in Definitely, Maybe

• “I’ve played some pretty wackadoodle people. I really hope that I’m not channeling any subconscious ideas about myself.”

• “I don’t particularly want an Oscar, I just want to have fun.”

• “The further away from you a character is, the easier it is to play. There’s more to hide behind. The freedom to do anything is a treat. It’s like you’re on mood enhancers.”

• “You’ve got to always make sure you’re going for the joke.”

• “I just like tapping into my inner idiot. I think it’s fun. I’ve never aspired to have an Oscar. I love dramatic movies – I appreciate them – I love dramatic actors and actresses, but I really love comedy. I studied at clown school in Paris. I wanted to be a clown. I always said I’d be doing Comedia Dell’Arte or mime, I never thought I’d be in movies. I love being in movies. I feel so blessed and grateful every second. But I’m just a comedy fan.”

• “Being a mum I don’t want to be away from the kids so I only work if I really love the script or the character or the director.”

• “After Wedding Crashers I was surprised by the lack of comedic material for women. A lot of them are really disappointing,” she says. “I get offered a lot of ‘girlfriend’ roles where the women roll their eyes while the guys get all the good lines.”

• “When you play support you get to go there muck around and go home. With the lead, you’re there all day everyday for three months so Home and Away, which was those hours, prepared me.” (on the differences between playing a supporting role and taking the lead in a film, and how Home & Away helped prepare her for that)

• “I once auditioned to play a businesswoman, and I dressed in an ’80s blazer with shoulder pads. There was a panel of people, and I thought it would look impressive if I used their paperwork as props. So I was rummaging around on their desks during my monologue, and their faces were like, ‘Do not touch my f–king stuff, you crazy actress!’?”

• “I had been going for dramatic roles, so I’d pace around trying to learn serious dialogue. And I’m just not a serious person. Finally Sacha said to me, ‘You’re the funniest girl. You should be doing comedies.’”

• “I have to say that I love comedy. I love the freedom that comedy brings, but I’m open to working with any filmmakers. It’s all about the story and the characters for me rather than just the genre.”

• “I just try to keep really loose and stay in the moment and not have any sort of hope for what I’m going to do. I’m not a method actress. I prepare at home and then I just try not to be self-conscious. A lot of people ask how come I got the role or how I got into comedy and I just think it’s because I’m willing, and a lot of actors and actresses aren’t willing to pull their faces.”

• “It’s very unnerving. It used to be that little Chihuahua, from Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and now it’s me! You know, I did drive by a poster, and I saw Brad Pitt, then Cate Blanchett and then… me. And I thought, ‘What! How am I on a poster?’ Somebody gave me a movie! I think I owe Jerry Bruckheimer a lot. It was very kind of him.” (on becoming a movie star and having the lead role in a movie)

• “I use a lot of my skills from there. But I’d never use the juggling or the mime—there’s not much call for doing ‘the wall’ in a film.” (on the skills she learnt at the Jacques Lecoq clown school)

• “You have to be spiritual about it too. You have to, sort of, take a ‘my life is as it should be at this moment’ and you kind of become a bit hippyish in your approach to survive.” (on the pressure of auditions)

• “It’s funny but I always seem to play these characters who have less social etiquette than others. They’re very naughty. But I love great, flawed people who can really inhabit the emotional landscape.”

• “I don’t have a strategy. I’m more just enjoying the opportunity to work. As we all know in our business, it’s a long haul to get to where you want to get to. And to even be sent a script, it seems like a luxury.”

• “There were a few years where I wasn’t doing work that I was particularly proud of. But I’m having an amazing time now. I love that I get offered slightly bizarre people. Bizarre is fun.”

• “I think there is a lack of quality roles for women in comedies. Most actresses get cast as the “eye-roller”/”the serious one,” while men in comedies get to do all the fun, silly stuff and muck around. Sometimes you just have to search hard for a role or create one for yourself.”

• “By knowing who the filmmaker is and what their vision is and, obviously, by the role and whether it seems challenging.” 9(on how she chooses projects)

• “I think kissing scenes always feel awkward but there’s just no way around it. But it’s a part of the job.”

• “Women can be as broad as men can and so many are wasted playing the eye roller or the love interest. There’s so many funny women—Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Anna Faris—and there’s an audience of women who are desperate to go out and see other women be funny.”

• “I love acting. love it. It’s the greatest fun in the world. I’ve never had trouble feeling extremely grateful. So, even though, comparatively, I wasn’t doing so well, I thought I was on top of the world.”

• “You have to put on the good Aspiring Actress role, which is that you read everything and you know a lot about every up and coming director. I’d really rather be on the beach with a good book.”

• “Coming from him, obviously that was hugely flattering. I guess I was going for all these dramatic roles and I’d been reading the lines aloud and it had never really resonated with who I was. And when the funniest man in the world thinks you’re funny, it’s a huge compliment.” (on Sacha telling her she was funny)

• “I’m choosy, definitely. I’ve made a lot of product in my life that I’m not proud of. I’ve had to work. Now that I’m fortunate enough to get to choose, I’m fussy. Now, I don’t have to make decisions as much from fear. It’s given me freedom.”

• “You learn a lot about acting, about working with three cameras and working on soap is really the toughest acting you’ll ever do. Some of the dialogue, you would never say and you have no time to prepare because you do fifteen scenes a day but I think it’s definitely a great training ground.” (talking about Home & Away)

• “I just feel, more often than not, when I miss out on a job, it’s always to someone I respect and I think they really deserve it, and more often than not, they suit the role better.”

• “I enjoy playing a ditz because so much comedy comes out. here’s nothing like going into a scene with a head full of rubbish and just improvising.”

• “I’m a very passionate actor and I love acting. But at the same time I’m not married to outcomes in the same way I was as a younger actor, because I have a family and that’s my priority.” (speaking in 2012 about her career)

• “I just think that I’m finding more and more courage within myself to take on things that maybe…in the past I was quite protective about what I did and I was quite precious about how I would be perceived. But that’s what’s great about having kids: it’s sort of the death of ego, and so then when you read material I’m no longer judgmental of the people that I would play. I’m just more excited for a challenge, and I care about my career greatly.” (speaking in 2012 about her career)

• “At least when I was a young actor there were no jobs! If you didn’t take a job then you didn’t eat. If I was lucky enough to be offered a job I would take it. Then you get to a place where you get offered lots of jobs and then you get to decide what to take. I much prefer having no choice because there’s less pressure. If things don’t work out you can blame something else. Now if things don’t work out it’s my own fault.” (speaking in 2013 about having choice in her career)

• “It’s always really nerve racking. I always feel like oh, no, everyone’s gonna realize that I’m miscast [or] I sometimes show up with an idea and then it’ll sort of get thrown out the window. I think it’s like anything. It’s like being new at school. You just want to do a really good job and you try your best to do that. You also have a lot of new people to meet and a lot of names to forget.” (speaking in 2020 about starting on a movie, this time in relation to Godmothered)

 

• “Comedy has always been important in my family. If you get in a good joke at the dinner table, it means more than almost anything else.”

• “It explains why I have a Mills and Boon approach to relationships.” (on her mother being a romance novelist)

 

• “I mean how successful are married, working relationships? Who’s worked together and come out of it at the other end? I feel like it’s the kiss of death.” – on the possibility of working with her fiance

• “Instead of ‘Hey, Honey, did you pick up the dry cleaning?’ it was ‘Did you get beaten up? Are you getting sued? Is there a warrant out for your arrest?'” (on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat legal issues)

• “All I know is that I’ve ruled out wearing fairy wings. When I was nine I wanted to get married in fairy wings, and now I realize that’s not cool anymore.” (on getting married)

• “I’m not a big fan of weddings in general – all that family and food. I’m engaged, and excited to get married, but I don’t like the actual ceremony. Sacha and I told Vince [Vaughn] and Owen [Wilson] they’re not invited, but they can crash it.”

• “I guess it’s like anyone who has a relationship with somebody who does things that creates news situations. I try not to think about it and all the stuff that comes with it.” (on Sacha’s news-worthy exploits as his characters)

• “It would be fun to do it in Staines, don’t you think?” (speaking in 2004 about a potential wedding)

• “I think he’s the funniest man in the world.”

• “Most people in relationships, whether romantic or platonic, end up talking about all aspects of their life.” (when asked whether she and Sacha help each other with roles and tips)

• “He definitely makes me laugh more than anyone, which is hence why I’m marrying him.”

• “I think you can find love and the person you’re supposed to be with under really inconvenient circumstances and still pursue it, so there’s no hard and fast rules.”

• “The most romantic thing a guy has ever done for me is starting a family. That’s as romantic as it gets.”

• “Would my past relationships have made brilliant romantic comedies? Comedies, maybe.”

• “Sacha and I are probably very similar in that we hide our feelings behind humour.”

• “During the filming of Wedding Crashers, people kept asking me about my [wedding] plans, and I felt like such a schmuck as I didnt have any answers not even funny ones.”

• “Height difference doesn’t generally keep people apart.”

• “I’ve never had a good-looking boyfriend, well, in the stereotypical way. A lot of people find someone attractive that others don’t. Otherwise, all our men would be taken by Claudia Schiffer!”

• “He’s a disaster. Who goes to the Golden Globes, marches up to Cate Blanchett, and says: ‘Hi, nice to meet you: What do you do for a living?'”

• “You live with the handlebar moustaches, the mohawks, everything, the costumes. It’s hard to drop the accent if you’re doing it all day on set. Obviously the kids would get very confused when they were tiny and ‘The Dictator’ would be holding Elula. It was very amusing.”

• “We’ve been together 15 years, so like any other wife, I can nag… But I don’t get involved in creative issues. I follow my own instincts and he follows his and that’s the only way you can stay true to doing what you want to do, and being the kind of performer you want to be.”

 

• “I haven’t got any plans to jump back into (work after the birth). I plan on just colouring in books. I’ll focus on that for the next few years.” – on her plans to return to work after giving birth to Olive

• “I don’t have any (movie) plans. I don’t want to put the pressure on myself to have to race back to something, so I’m just taking it easy and seeing how I feel.” – on returning to work after giving birth to Olive

• “I just feel my children didn’t choose a career in the limelight and unfortunately, I get followed.” – on why she doesn’t talk about her kids publicly

• “Motherhood is my favourite topic but I never talk about it publicly. As much as I love what I am doing, and I am so fortunate to have the opportunities that I have had, my responsibility is to my family.”

• “Motherhood is my favorite topic. In private! But publicly, I don’t want to talk about it. Because I don’t want to draw any extra attention to her. She didn’t choose to be born into… You know. She deserves her anonymity!”

• “Motherhood is my favourite topic in my personal life, but I don’t discuss it professionally because I want my daughter to have privacy and a normal life.”

• “I just think anything as momentous as motherhood changes your perspective on life. It’s absolutely amazing. And it’s my favorite topic, but I don’t really talk about it publicly only because I want Olive to be as protected as she can be from the craziness of the business.”

• “In the beginning I dodged the rumours… I was trying not to be rude, but there’s a time before you’re sure everything is all right with no complications that you just don’t want to discuss it.” – on announcing her first pregnancy

• “I’m doing DNA tests with the cast of (new film) Hot Rod and the cast of Wedding Crashers, and hopefully I’ll find out for sure.” – joking about her first pregnancy

• “I have amnesia. I don’t remember what I just said. Someone asked me what music I’m listening to right now and I said Nick Cannon, who’s apparently like some rapper! That is obviously what I’m not listening to right now. No, I can barely remember my name.” – on being forgetful whilst pregnant with Olive

• “When I was pregnant, I remember someone wrote on a blog that I had gained too much weight. I remember being really shocked that even during something as incredible and beautiful as pregnancy, you are still subject to body fascism.”

• “There’s no way I’m going to worry about missing out on work – or the pressure to lose weight. I’m fully booked up in my personal life and I can’t see beyond that. I’ll be focusing on colouring books for kids.”

• “I haven’t worked at all really during my pregnancy except today. I’m just concentrating on finding a rug for the living room — if I do that, I’ll be very happy with myself.”

• “But I think that all experiences definitely change your perspective on life, particularly motherhood.”

 

• “We’re starting to have our pictures taken a little more often now, probably because Sacha’s so tall while I’m so small. I’m like a circus freak.”

• “I’m a private person. Talking at all about your personal life opens the door and shines a light on it, and it feels good at the time, because you please the journalist. But at the end of the day, do I go see a movie because I know the private life of the actor in the film?”

• “We’re in New York now and it’s great that I can walk around and no one really cares. I love that fact. In Los Angeles, it’s a bit different because the paparazzi really does follow you around. In New York, you’re just a face in the crowd. I’m someone who likes to keep my private life as private as possible. So, I don’t go to places where the paparazzi tends to be at all. I feel like I have my own life away from all of it.”

• “There are photographers outside the house, but I can pull a baseball cap over my hair and slip out without being noticed. It’s not so easy when I am with Him — the size difference is absurd. My secret — and that of most actors in LA, the 98% of them you don’t see in the magazines every week — is sticking with a small group of friends who I trust, keeping it low-key and not behaving like I do in movies.”

• “I don’t want to disappoint people, but that’s just for us.” (on her family)

• “I really want to promote things that I’m in and be a responsible artist if the studio hires me, but everything else, I just feel it’s really important for me to feel normal.”

• “I don’t give interviews unless I really have to. I like to keep myself to myself. I’m sure [Cohen] is tweeting right now, from the back of a camel! But I’m very private.” (speaking in 2012 at Cannes)

 

• “I’m not nervous now I’ve done this bit.” – on big red carpet events (in 2005)

• “I used to think ‘One day I’ll live in Hollywood with seven bedrooms and a swimming pool … being a maid’. I definitely didn’t know I’d end up here, and definitely didn’t go into acting with fame and fortune in mind. Most actors are unemployed. So I just enjoyed performing and liked to show off when I was a kid.”

• “Oh, I always thought I’d be living in Hollywood, in a seven-bedroom house with a massive swimming pool. It’s just that when I imagined it, I always thought I’d be the maid.”

• “I think it’s always an act to seem accessible to people.” (when asked whether you need to dumb it down to be successful in Hollywood)

• “I have a sarcastic sense of humor, and because it’s difficult to understand the tone of something when you read it, I can come across as ignorant or rude when I’m just trying to be funny.”

 

• “I have had one fashion disaster. I wore a dress to the Golden Globes and I was posing on the Red Carpet, and looking over my shoulder strutting around very cocky, thinking I looked great, and my dress had ripped all the way to my back, and my right cheek was exposed! I’m sure there have been many countless others! I’m thinking back to the days when I wore my black skin-tight jeans with my 16 hole cherry Dr Martens with really long feet which made me look like Ronald McDonald and an AC-DC t-shirt. I’m sure that wasn’t a fashion highlight.” – on her fashion disasters

• “I love it when a beautiful designer dresses me. But these days, it’s more like getting in the car and realizing the burp cloth is still on my left shoulder.”

• “I shop rarely and poorly. I don’t follow fashion or trends. If I’m going to a premiere, I put on killer heels, but never during the day. You’ll never see me in the front row at Fashion Week.”

• “Most of my wardrobe is from Forever 21, although lately they’ve been turning the music up really loud, and I find myself feeling old around all those young people.”

• “I’m not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination. With the pageantry of the red carpet, there’s a portion of my life that’s devoted to that. But the reality is that I’m a jeans and t-shirt girl and I’m a mom. Unfortunately, my life and time don’t lend themselves to the beautification process, which is extremely time-consuming. Any spare time I get is dedicated to sleep right now.”

• “I shop rarely and poorly. When I shop, I just want to get in and out. I have a mission and I fulfil it.”

• “The most fun fashion discovery was just to use a lot of color in my wardrobe. I’m fairly conservative normally and I just feel like Patricia Fields brought out the color in me. I now love to wear color.”

• “A part of this business obviously is the pageantry of the red carpet and you get dressed by incredible designers. So I have to say that I love Stella McCartney. I love Vivian Westwood. I love Zac Posen. I tend to go for more kind of classic things. I love Prada. I feel very blessed to wear any of those dresses.”

 

• “She’s kind of the acting equivalent of a nine-gang jujitsu master yellow belt.” – on Nicole Kidman

• “Naomi is such a great hands on mum and he had made this entire book of all them together. He bought this incredible iBook and it was just filled with pictures of the boys and their mum. I think it made me cry a little bit! He’s an amazing dad. It’s so beautiful.” – on a Mother’s Day present Liev Schreiber and his sons made for Naomi Watts. Isla is good friends with the family.

• “Actually, my co-star Rachel McAdams just won the MTV Award for Best Kiss, so I think I’d rather kiss her. She clearly knows what shes doing.”

• “Heath was on a show that I worked on called “Home and Away.” We worked together; I’ve known him since I was 16. It’s a shame. I absolutely hope he wins the Oscar, even though “The Dark Knight” was something that felt like it would be difficult for me to see, having known him personally.” (speaking in 2009)

• “Goldie Hawn has always been a huge favorite of mine. I grew up watching her films — everything from ‘Private Benjamin’ to ‘Overboard.’ I just think that she has a vulnerability and does such great physical comedy. She just lights up the screen. I think she’s fabulous.”

• “That was exciting because I think Kylie is wonderful. She’s really beautiful and a real role model. We are both small and proud of it.” (speaking in 1998 about meeting Kylie Minogue)

• “She has given me great advice, is very sweet and nice. You know, you get rejected a million times and she’ll always say, you just got to get one part, so she’s great.” – on Naomi Watts

• “It wasn’t that effective for Nicole and Tom Cruise on Eyes Wide Shut, was it?” (speaking in 2005 about married couples working together)

• “Yes we call it the Koala mafia. Most of my friends are Aussies.” (on her Aussie actor friends in Hollywood)

• “Naomi is down-to-earth, fun, endlessly supportive, a generous spirit. She still has her same buddies from school and she hasn’t dabbled in plastic surgery, so she’s a natural beauty on the inside and out. And she’s a fantastic chef.” – on Naomi Watts

• “Let me tell you something about Rebel. She’s an intellect. When you do a junket with her, she’s gonna reveal all this amazing stuff, but she’s an incredible girl. She’s hilarious and very bright and a brilliant writer.” – on Rebel Wilson

 

• “Feeling comfortable in her own skin. I know that’s a cliche, but it is true. I don’t believe it’s a jacket or a perfume or a bra.” – on what makes a woman sexy (in 2007)

• “You can’t underestimate how traumatic divorce is for the children. When your parents divorce, it makes you grow up fast. I’d urge parents to strongly consider working things out. I’d work things out and I’d definitely stay put. Especially if there were babies involved.”

• “If Shopaholic is a hit, then it was Isla Fisher in the movie, and if it doesn’t work out, it was Amy Adams.” – joking about being mistaken for Amy Adams

• “I sort of fell in love with Judaism. I love the rituals and it’s all about family, which is what I believe to be the secret to happiness.”

• “People are very funny over there. You get in a black cab and the guy’s a stand up! It’s hilarious.” (on London)

• “I am not a big fan of weddings. I find them a bit boring. Your aunt kisses you really hard on the cheek and then there’s a speech which goes on forever. When I was nine I wanted to get married in fairy wings, but I’ve let that go now.”

• “Personally, I can watch a bad dramatic movie and it doesn’t bother me as much as watching a bad comedic movie. That makes my skin crawl. So I think that comedy is much more difficult.”

• “What do I miss from home? All the usual things. My family, my friends, the smell of suncream, the burgers that you get, the organic burgers in Bondi, you know smoothies. Food just tastes better. The air, the beach, I mean, the sand, the creatures.” (on what she misses from Australia)

• “I remember one of the most influential books I read when I was pretty young was ‘The Beauty Myth’ by Naomi Wolf, and I think that really altered the way that I see the body image and now, I don’t want to talk about motherhood, but being a mother, the time that it takes to wax, prim, pluck, curl, shave, bleach, I mean, that’s time you can’t get back.”

• “Put it this way, when I wake up in the morning I want to be the beautiful one.” (speaking in 1996, about dating soap stars)

• “I crashed my boyfriend’s birthday when I was 12 years old. He didn’t invite me and so I showed up. His mother turned me away. Brutal. I carry the wound of that around with me today. I’m joking. That was it. And the worst thing is that I wore my Metallica T-Shirt and had my little black plaid jeans on and my Doc Marten boots. I thought that I was so pretty.”

• “I wish I knew. I think it’s just that we’re free spirited and we travel a lot.” (on why Aussies are so successful in Hollywood)

• “I loved Morocco. It’s very exotic and different from anywhere I’ve ever been. I had an amazing day there in the high Atlas Mountains near Mt Tamadot, when I rode by donkey into a Berber village and drank some mint tea with a Berber family. It was exceptional.”

• “I do such a great pig noise. I would’ve loved to have done those ‘Babe’ squeals.”

• “I just came back from Mammoth Mountain and will never return to any slope. There were three-year-olds on snowboards mocking me and kicking snow in my face.”

• “I love the power women have. I think women rule the world because they rule men. Manipulating men — that’s our job. That’s what we’re on the planet for.”

• “I mean, I think women have always been funny. Before Bridesmaids it was Sex and the City. I’ve always loved — even Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Sweetest Thing — I’ve followed females in comedy my whole career, from Goldie Hawn to Lucille Ball. I feel like there’s always been a lot of us. I don’t feel that poverty mentality about it.” (on female comediennes in cinema)

• “I didn’t grow up watching many movies. My parents didn’t really take me to the cinema. I think I only watched two movies as a kid – one was The Dark Crystal and the other was ET. I was mainly outside, digging holes in the garden and climbing trees.”

 
 

Sacha Baron Cohen – “Purely by being famous.” (jokingly, on how he first attracted Isla)

Sacha Baron Cohen – “With Borat she had to sleep with a man with a handlebar moustache. And doing Bruno I had all my body hair shaved off – she had to sleep with a shaved, gay man who she managed to turn bi.” (talking in 2012)

Sacha Baron Cohen – “She now tries to avoid going out of the house with me”. (joking in 2012, about his social slip-ups in front of other celebrities)

Sacha Baron Cohen – “Actually, my brother is married to an Australian woman as well so it’s a family penchant.”

 
 

Kate Ritchie – “It’s nice that this film has brought her back to Australia. She’s a gorgeous girl and it’s so nice to see her doing well.” (at the Wedding Crashers premiere in Sydney in 2005)

Andy Samberg – “She’ll be a good mom. With those two for parents it’s going to be an interesting family. That kid’s got to brace himself. That kid’s got something in for him. [Asked if the child would be a born comedian because of his parents] Or it will just reject comedy altogether, because there’s no living up to [them.]” (on Isla becoming a mother)

Naomi Watts – “What I love about Isla is that she is a true comedian. She just spreads life and energy into everyone.”

Naomi Watts – “Nothing is going to crush Isla’s spirit. That’s probably part of the Aussie in her, you know? She’s not going to lose sense of herself. ”

Kate Ritchie – “When Isla Fisher (who played Shannon) and Tempany Deckert (who played Selina) were on the show, we were always good mates.” (speaking in 2001 about her friends on Home & Away)

Patricia Field – “I found Isla to be flirty and fetching, with a twinkle in her eye. She’s petite and cute, but has a sexy Cheshire cat quality that inspired me to dress her the way I did.”

Jerry Bruckheimer – “She’s vivacious, she’s funny, she’s a wonderful dramatic actress, which this movie [Shopaholic] wouldn’t work without the ability she has to pull that character off and see that she is serious. The comedic part, we saw what she could do in Wedding Crashers and some of her other work, but the real surprise is that she’s a wonderful dramatic actress.”

Ryan Reynolds – “Isla, the one thing I think she’s known for besides being smart, funny and beautiful, is that she tells the truth. She tells it like it is. And that, I think, is a dying industry in this world.”

Vince Vaughn – “Isla’s funny as hell! She’s fast. She’s sharp and she’s whip smart.”

Courteney Cox – “We met her and Sacha at David Spade’s birthday party about four years ago. They were saying how hard it was to meet people, and we just immediately clicked. We’ve traveled together, been to Mexico.” (talking in 2007)

Naomi Watts – “It doesn’t surprise me that someone like Sacha — who is a brilliant comedian, just extraordinary — is with her. The two of them together are just the greatest couple to be around. They brighten everything up a bit, but you can see that they’re not just there to entertain. They’re really connected to each other and are taking care of each other the entire time. It’s beautiful.. She’s in a very committed relationship, and she’ll probably be knocked up, barefoot, pregnant, and married within the next few years! But she’s got everything she needs to have a huge career. I think she could be a huge star.”

Courteney Cox – “Isla just blows me away with her humor. She’s got guts is all I’ll say; she’ll do anything. If I were going to do a comedy again, I’d definitely get her to help me.”

Amy Adams – “I get Isla Fisher all the time, still. And I know Isla, and for a while our kids went to the same dance school. When I’m with Isla, we both look at one another and … get it but I don’t get it. But just like I tell her, it could be a lot worse. I could be mistaken for a lot worse people.” (on being mistaken for Isla)

Krysten Ritter – “Isla Fisher’s career is pretty remarkable. She’s been doing it since she was 13 years old, and she’s really come into her own comedically. I’d love to be where she is in five years.” (talking in 2008 when asked to name an actor she admires)