Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Aladeen. He adopts a variety of accents and guises for his characters and interacts with unsuspecting subjects who do not realise they have been set up. At the 2012 British Comedy Awards, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award and accepted the award in-character as Ali G. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy. In 2018, ''The Times'' named him among the 30 best living comedians.

Baron Cohen has produced and/or performed in comedic films such as ''Ali G Indahouse'' (2002), ''Borat'' (2006) and its sequel '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'' (2020), '' Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'' (2006), ''Brüno'' (2009), and '' The Dictator'' (2012). He has also appeared in dramatic films including Tim Burton's '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (2007), Martin Scorsese's ''Hugo'' (2011), Tom Hooper's ''Les Misérables'' (2012), and Aaron Sorkin's ''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' (2020). He made a cameo as a BBC News anchor in '' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'' (2013). In 2016, he appeared in the comedy film ''Grimsby'' and co-starred in the fantasy sequel ''Alice Through the Looking Glass''. His voice acting roles include King Julien XIII in the ''Madagascar'' film series (2005–2012) and Uncle Ugo in ''Luca'' (2021).

Beginning his career in television, Baron Cohen was named Best Newcomer at the 1999 British Comedy Awards for '' The 11 O'Clock Show''. He created and starred in ''Da Ali G Show'' (2000–2004), receiving two BAFTA Awards. His next television project, '' Who Is America?'' (2018) for Showtime, saw him nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2019, he portrayed Eli Cohen in the limited series '' The Spy'' for OCS and Netflix, for which he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film.

Baron Cohen has two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, three Golden Globe Award nominations, resulting in two wins for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his work in the feature film ''Borat'' and its sequel. In 2021, he received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his performance as Abbot "Abbie" Hoffman in ''The Trial of the Chicago 7''. He has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actors Branch since 2008. After the release of ''Borat'', Baron Cohen said he would retire Borat and Ali G because the public had become too familiar with the characters. After the release of ''Brüno'', he said he would retire that character.Entertainment Sacha Baron Cohen to shed Borat persona for good
digitaljournal.com, 15 July 2009 However, the character of Borat was brought back for the 2020 sequel '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm''.

Early life

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen was born in the Hammersmith area of London on 13 October 1971, the son of Jewish parents. His mother, photographer Daniella Naomi (née Weiser), was born in Palestine (modern-day Israel) in 1939 to a family of German Jews who had immigrated there. His father, editor-turned-clothing store owner Gerald Jerry Baron Cohen (1932–2016), was born in London to a family of Ashkenazi Belarusian Jews who had moved there and to Pontypridd in Wales, and was raised in Wales. Baron Cohen was raised Jewish in London and is fluent in Hebrew. His paternal grandfather, Morris Moses Cohen, added "Baron" to his surname. His maternal grandmother, Liesel (née Levi), lived in Haifa and trained as a ballet dancer in Germany before fleeing the Nazis in 1936. Baron Cohen has two older brothers: Erran, a composer with whom he has collaborated, and Amnon. His cousins include autism researcher Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, playwright Dan Baron Cohen, and filmmaker Ash Baron-Cohen.

Baron Cohen was first educated at the independent Catholic St Columba's College in St Albans, Hertfordshire, before moving on to attend the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, Hertfordshire. He then studied History with a focus on anti-semitism at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1993 with upper-second-class honours. As an undergraduate, he said that he wrote his thesis on Jewish activists in the American civil rights movement. He was a member of the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, where he performed in shows such as '' Fiddler on the Roof'' and ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', as well as in Habonim Dror, a Labour Zionist youth movement.Sacha Baron Cohen: Our man from Kazakhstan
''The Observer''. 1 September 2006.

Career

Early roles

Growing up, Baron Cohen played the cello and made his television debut on ''Fanfare for Young Musicians''. He was a fan of Monty Python and Peter Cook, but his greatest comedic influence was Peter Sellers. Known for portraying a wide range of comic characters using different accents and guises, Sellers was referred to by Baron Cohen as "the most seminal force in shaping isearly ideas on comedy". After leaving university, Baron Cohen worked for a time as a fashion model. By the early 1990s, he was hosting a weekly programme on Windsor cable television's local broadcasts with Carol Kirkwood, who later became a BBC
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