Coogan was born one of six children in working-class Middleton, Manchester, in northern England. As a member of a large Catholic family, Coogan struggled for attention by entertaining his parents and siblings with impersonations of teachers and family members, and by reciting chunks of Monty Python. His inherent talents led Coogan to train as an actor at the Manchester Polytechnic School. To earn his Equity card, Coogan performed standup comedy where he perfected his gift for dead-on impersonations of celebrities and world leaders. Meanwhile, Coogan was putting his voice talents to work on “Spitting Image” (ITV1, 1984-86), a satirical show that recreated famous characters from British life into grossly exaggerated puppets. This lead to being spotted by a talent scout, after which he did impressions on such British shows as “First Exposure”, “A Word in Your Era” and “Paramount City”.

In 1992, Coogan created his most famous and beloved character, the ignorant and arrogant Alan Partridge. At the time, Coogan was on Radio 4’s¸ On the Hour, a mock radio show posing as a news program. Asked by the show’s producer, Armando Iannucci, to do the voice of a sportscaster, Coogan just opened his mouth and out came Alan Partridge. The character soon developed into an audience favorite, which loved his lame puns and non-sequiturs. Coogan turned Partridge into a million dollar franchise, spinning off the character into its own radio show, Knowing Me, Knowing You, later turned into the mock television talk show “Knowing Me, Knowing You…with Alan Partridge” (BBC, 2000-01) and a second show, “I’m Alan Partridge” (BBC, 2000-01), a comedy series about the fictional character after his talk show is taken away from him.

Coogan segued into movies, playing the role of Tommy in “The Indian in the Cupboard” (1995). He next had the lead in “The Wind in the Willows” (1997), a live-action children’s tale about the adventures of Mole and his pal Rat. In “The Parole Officer” (2001), Coogan starred as an honest but naïve parole officer who is framed for murder by a crooked cop. Co-written with business partner, Henry Normal, with whom he formed Baby Cow Productions, the film went on to become one of the UK’s top grossing films of that year. Off this success, Coogan was cast as Tony Wilson, the ambitious and charismatic music manager who helped put the Manchester scene on the map, in “24 Hour Party People” (2002). The unconventional biopic was a hit at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, with special kudos going to Coogan for his performance.

Coogan further raised his profile with “Around the World in 80 Days”, where he played the eccentric London inventor, Phileas Fogg, who makes a bet to circumnavigate the globe in only 80 days. He also appeared as himself in Jim Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarettes” (2004), a series of vignettes where several real-life characters talk about random topics over coffee and cigarettes. He then appeared in the low-budget ensemble comedy, “Happy Endings” (2005), playing a gay restaurateur, and father to the son of his stepsister, who convinces his lover (David Sutcliffe) to donate sperm to a pair of lesbian friends (Laura Dern and Sarah Clarke).