News.com.au – October 17th 2016

Isla Fisher sometimes works at her family’s backpackers and she’s terrible at it

ACTRESS, producer and novelist, Isla Fisher can now add the title of “bad waitress” to her resume.

“My mother and stepfather started a backpacker hostel in Greece,” she explains to news.com.au.

“My brothers also work there now and sometimes they’ll make me work too.”

But it appears Fisher is not well suited to the family business.

“Someone will order a cappuccino. I’ll make it and take it over and then I wait. And they’re staring at me, and I’m staring at them, and I’m too embarrassed to say, ‘That’ll be 2 euros, please!’ I also work the Roof Bar and the same thing happens,” she laughs.

“And my family will say, ‘Isla, we’re running a business. You can’t give away everything!’ And I’ll say, ‘But they were so nice!’”

The Oman-born, Perth-raised movie star (with a reported net worth of $US20 million) has her own experiences as a backpacker.

“In my early 20s, when I first moved to London, I slept on couches everywhere and then I travelled around Europe in backpacker places. I had a great time,” she said.

“During that time I used to think that washing clothes was just the most amazing thing. If you were ever somewhere you could wash your clothes, it was just like winning the lottery.”

With a successful career, a six-year marriage to actor/comedian Sacha Baron Cohen with whom she is raising their three kids: Olive, 8, Elula, 4 and Montgomery, 18 months, Fisher has indeed won the lottery.

“I’m very lucky and I’m very happy,” she smiles. “Happiness is a choice. When you feel yourself having thoughts that aren’t necessarily productive for you, although they can be very seductive, you have try to take the wood out of the fireplace before the house burns down,” she says. “So I try to change a thought before it turns into an emotion.”

Fisher converted to Judaism for Baron Cohen and it seems to sit well with her.

“Yes. I’ve converted to Judaism and I really found my life enriched by all the culture’s given to me and feel incredibly blessed to have my eyes opened to a whole new world,” she says.

The globetrotting couple ensures the family are always together. “I’m very family oriented. I totally always put my family first and I definitely enjoy that side of life.”

Fisher says of her own family, “I go to Greece as often as I can because I’m very close to my mum, and also, she’s the most wonderful nana. She’s a total legend. And my dad is too. So we’re always visiting everyone. And I’m really lucky.

“As far as going to Australia, I have a stepbrother in Byron Bay and I hope this Christmas time/Chanukah time to get home and spend time with him.”

In her latest film, the upcoming spy comedy, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Fisher stars as a suburban housewife who finds herself ensnared in an international espionage plot.

There’s a scene where Fisher is dressed in sexy lingerie and looks remarkable, especially given that she had given birth six weeks before filming the scene. “Well, I was breastfeeding so I had a little help in that area,” she insists.

When asked whether she’d make a good spy in real life, she offers candidly, “I actually did have a relationship in my past where I thought somebody was possibly cheating on me, and I did have to do some snooping. I went through a lot of phone records but I couldn’t really work it out in the end,” she laughs. “I should not have given that quote.”

Where is home to Fisher these days?

“We spend most of the time in America but thanks to Les Miserables, Hugo, and Grimsby, all those films [starring Baron Cohen] were shot in London and because my family are in Europe, we’ve been lucky to be in England over the summer. But home for me definitely now feels like LA.

“I grew up in Western Australia and we have a really similar climate. So we rent our digs in England and I have a rental home in Sydney.

“All my mates are Aussie, The Koala Mafia. I’m very friendly with Naomi and I love Nicole. I know Russell a bit. We’re all very supportive of each other. There’s a lot of love. I always say it’s because we have a great state-funded drama system. We can do the accent and we look great in a bikini. Including Russell Crowe,” she laughs.

Speaking of looking great in a bikini, how does she stay in good shape?

“I’m into this green juice, which is one apple, probably three stalks of celery, a handful of kale, squeeze in a lemon and just whiz it up. And that’s how I start the day. And then it kind of goes downhill from there,” she says.

“Then it’s just like a free-for-all of me eating everything.”

At age 40, a body like Fisher’s surely takes a little more work. “I like to hike and I love nature so I do that as often as possible.”

She may have homes all over the world but Fisher remains resolutely Australian, at least in her sensibilities. “When I want to laugh, I’ll always go to Summer Heights High. Chris Lilley really makes me laugh.”