Sacha Baron Cohen

Early life and education

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen was born into a Jewish family in the Hammersmith area of London on 13 October 1971. His mother, photographer Daniella (née Weiser), was born in Mandatory Palestine in 1939 to German Jewish parents. His father, editor-turned-clothing-store owner Gerald "Jerry" Baron Cohen (1932–2016), was born into a Belarusian Jewish family in London and grew up in the Welsh town of Pontypridd. Baron Cohen's 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. He has two older brothers: Erran, a composer with whom he often collaborates, and Amnon. His cousins include autism researcher Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, playwright Dan Baron Cohen, and filmmaker Ash Baron-Cohen.

Baron Cohen was educated at the independent Catholic St Columba's College in St Albans, before moving to the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree. He then studied history with a focus on antisemitism at Christ's College, Cambridge. In the summer of 1992, as an undergraduate, he spent several months at the Martin Luther King Jnr Center in Atlanta, researching his dissertation on the role of Jewish activists in the American civil rights movement titled "The Black-Jewish Alliance: A Case of Mistaking Identity". He graduated in 1993 with upper-second-class honours. 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, and acted in shows with the Labour youth movement Habonim Dror. He played the cello while growing up and made his television debut as a cellist on Fanfare for Young Musicians.

Career

Early roles

Baron Cohen grew up as a fan of Monty Python and Peter Cook, but his greatest comedic influence was Peter Sellers, whom he saw as "this incredibly realistic actor, who was also hilarious and who managed to bridge the gap between comedy and satire". 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 [his] early 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 weather forecaster. In 1995, Channel 4 was planning a replacement for its series The Word, and disseminated an open call for new television presenters. Baron Cohen sent in a tape of himself, which caught the attention of a producer. Baron Cohen hosted Pump TV from 1995 to 1996.

In 1996, Baron Cohen began presenting the youth chat programme F2F for Granada Talk TV and had a small role in an advertisement for McCain Microchips, as a chef in a commercial entitled "Ping Pong".

He took clown training in Paris, at the École Philippe Gaulier, studying under master-clown Philippe Gaulier. Of his former pupil, Gaulier says: "He was a good clown, full of spirit" while Baron Cohen remarks of Gaulier, "Without him, I really do doubt whether I would have had any success in my field". He left TV journalist Rob Burley a note reading "Dear Rob, good luck baby, have fun and things, see you soon, Sacha.", when Burley left the programme. Baron Cohen made his first feature film appearance in the British comedy The Jolly Boys' Last Stand (2000). Also in 2000, he played the part of Super Greg for a series of TV advertisements for Lee Jeans; the advertisements never aired, but the website for Super Greg created an internet sensation.

Characters

Baron Cohen shot to fame with his comic character Ali G, a fictional stereotype of a white British suburban male "chav" who imitates urban black British hip hop culture and British Jamaican culture, as well as speaking in rude boy-style English with borrowed expressions from Jamaican Patois. Hailing from Staines, a suburban town in Surrey, to the west of London. Ali G began appearing on the British television show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4, which first aired on 8 September 1998. A year after the première of the show, GQ named Baron Cohen comedian of the year. He won Best Newcomer at the 1999 British Comedy Awards, and at the British Academy Television Awards he was nominated for Best British Entertainment Performance.

Da Ali G Show began in 2000, and won the BAFTA for Best Comedy in the following year. Also in 2000, Baron Cohen as Ali G appeared as the limousine driver in Madonna's 2000 video "Music", directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who was also responsible for directing the titles for Da Ali G Show. Baron Cohen is a supporter of the UK charity telethon Comic Relief, which is broadcast on the BBC, and as Ali G interviewed David Beckham and wife Victoria in 2001.

In a 2001, Channel 4 poll Ali G was ranked eighth on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. In 2002, Ali G was the central character in the feature film Ali G Indahouse, in which he is elected to the British Parliament and foils a plot to bulldoze a community centre in his home town, Staines. His television show was exported to the United States in 2003, with new episodes set there, for HBO.

At the 2012 British Comedy Awards, 13 years after winning Best Newcomer at the 1999 Comedy Awards, Baron Cohen accepted the Outstanding Achievement Award from Sir Ben Kingsley in the guise of Ali G." In 2013, he received the BAFTA Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy.

Ali G's interviews with notable figures, especially politicians, gained notoriety partly because the subjects were not aware that Ali G, rather than being a real interviewer, was a comedic character. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Baron Cohen would always enter the interview area dressed as Ali G, carrying equipment while acting like an inconspicuous crew member. The crew would be accompanied by a man in a suit and tie, leading the subject to believe that this was the person who would interview them. Baron Cohen, as Ali G, would sit down to ask the interviewee some preliminary questions to give them the impression that this was a test run before the well-dressed man conducted the real interview; this continued until a few moments before the cameras started filming, revealing the suited man as the director and Ali G as the interviewer, granting Baron Cohen the element of surprise as the interviewee would be less likely to opt out of the interview so close to its start.

Who Is America?

Baron Cohen portrays various characters in Who Is America?, including Erran Morad, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert. The character is referred to as a colonel (and later captain, general, major, sergeant, brigadier, sergeant corporal and lieutenant) in the Israeli military and a former agent of Mossad (or "not in the Mossad", as he often interjects). Before Who Is America? aired on Showtime, some conservative public figures made statements saying that Baron Cohen had deceived them while in character. Hours before the premiere, Showtime uploaded the "Kinderguardians" segment on their YouTube channel, in which Morad explains to Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, of the proposal of a new program where children ages 3 to 16 are armed with guns. He also interviews other conservatives, such as Dana Rohrabacher, Joe Wilson, and Joe Walsh, who are openly supportive. Only Matt Gaetz expresses skepticism of Morad's proposal and declines to be in his video.

In the second episode, Morad teaches Jason Spencer, a Republican state representative from Georgia, how to detect and repel terrorists by taking pictures up a woman's burqa with a selfie stick, walking backwards while baring his buttocks, and yelling racial epithets. After the airing of the episode, Spencer initially refused to step down, stating that he was exploited by the producers. In May 2018, Spencer lost his primary to a political novice, Steven Sainz, but was expected to serve the rest of his term until November. He eventually did step down on 31 July 2018, leaving the seat vacant.

Baron Cohen has denied Who is America? will return for a second season, noting the publicity surrounding the show and his interviews would make it harder for him to dupe guests.

Other work

Baron Cohen guest-starred in the fifth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, with Dustin Hoffman, as a guide to Heaven. He also provided the voice of the ring-tailed lemur king, King Julien, in DreamWorks Animation's film series, Madagascar, and appeared as Will Ferrell's arch rival, the French Formula One speed demon Jean Girard, in the hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006). He also appeared alongside Johnny Depp in the film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) as Signor Adolfo Pirelli, co-starred in Martin Scorsese's adventure film Hugo (2011), and portrayed Thénardier in the 2012 film version of the musical Les Misérables. He appeared as a BBC News Anchor in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013).

Baron Cohen has twice presented the MTV Europe Music Awards, first as Ali G on 8 November 2001, in Frankfurt, Germany, and then as Borat on 3 November 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal. Baron Cohen appeared out of character to accept an award at the British Comedy Awards in December 2006. He said at the time that Borat could not make it to the awards as "he's guest of honour at the Holocaust denial conference in Tehran", referring to the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust.

In September 2010, representatives for Baron Cohen confirmed that he was set to play Freddie Mercury in the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic about the rock singer. He dropped out of the project in July 2013, citing "creative differences" between him and the surviving members of Queen. Queen guitarist Brian May later said that even though the band and Baron Cohen were on good terms, they felt that his presence would be "distracting". The role was later played by Rami Malek. In 2010, Baron Cohen guest-starred in The Simpsons episode, "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed", as Jakob, a quick-tempered Israeli tour guide.

In 2012, Baron Cohen and his production company Four By Two Films signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures, and the deal was renewed in 2014 for three years and a two-film commitment. In Baron Cohen's Grimsby (2016; The Brothers Grimsby in the US), he plays the football hooligan brother of a British MI6 spy. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a failure at the box office.

Baron Cohen portrayed political activist/anarchist Abbie Hoffman in the drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, with Aaron Sorkin writing and directing. The film was released in September 2020 to positive reviews. For the 93rd Academy Awards, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, marking his first Oscar nomination for acting.

Activism

In 2019, Baron Cohen was awarded the Anti-Defamation League's International Leadership Award for opposing bigotry and prejudice. In accepting the award, Baron Cohen gave an impassioned speech directing criticism at internet companies, singling out Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter as part of "the biggest propaganda machine in history" and claiming that their rules on hate speech meant "they would have let Hitler buy ads".

Baron Cohen is a founder of Stop Hate For Profit, helping establish the campaign group in 2019. Color of Change, NAACP and other civil rights groups subsequently joined the coalition, resulting in a widespread celebrity boycott of Meta platforms and more than 1,100 corporations temporarily withdrawing advertising from Facebook. He is a vocal critic of social media companies, and has spoken publicly against racism, antisemitism, and online hate speech.

In August 2023, Baron Cohen was a speaker alongside Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton at the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. He spoke against racism, antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ prejudice, and criticised social media companies for facilitating the spread of hate, calling for legislation to hold the companies accountable for content promoted by their platforms.

Philanthropy

He has made donations to numerous causes and children's charities in countries including Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.

On 28 December 2015, Baron Cohen and his then wife, Australian actress Isla Fisher, gave £335,000 ($500,000) to Save the Children as part of a programme to vaccinate children in northern Syria against measles; they gave the same amount to the International Rescue Committee, also aimed at helping Syrian refugees. Baron Cohen has also made donations to support children and families in Somalia during a severe hunger crisis, and funded the building of a maternity hospital in Hodeidah, Yemen.

In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher partnered with Marc Benioff to send a planeload of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to National Health Service workers in the UK.

In October 2024, Baron Cohen gave $500,000 to Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee to help support their work tackling a displacement crisis and famine in Sudan, and called for more aid to support the cause.

Gaza war

In 2023, he was one of the actors to sign an open letter to President Biden calling for the release of all hostages taken by Hamas.

In October 2023, Baron Cohen was among the members of the Writers Guild of America who criticized the guild leaders for not condemning the October 7 Hamas attacks as other guilds had done.

In November 2023, Baron Cohen was among more than a dozen creators and celebrities who challenged TikTok executives on the subject of content moderation and the safety of Jewish users amidst the early stages of the Gaza war.

Image and reputation

Public persona

For much of the early part of his career, Baron Cohen avoided doing interviews out of character. However, in 2004, he did the talk show circuit appearing as himself on Late Show with David Letterman, The Opie and Anthony Show, The Howard Stern Show, and others to promote the forthcoming season of his show on HBO. He was also interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered and did an interview with Rolling Stone, published in November 2006, that the magazine labelled as "his only interview as himself". He also appeared in an interview out of character with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air on 4 January 2007.

Borat director Larry Charles explains that Baron Cohen generally appears in character partly to "protect his weakness", by focusing public interest on his characters rather than himself. His other reason, Newsweek claims, is that Baron Cohen is fiercely private: "...according to the UK press, his publicists denied that he attended a party for the London premiere of Borat and that a party even occurred".

Baron Cohen was featured in the Time 100 list for 2007.

Sports Illustrated's 6 November 2006 issue contains a column called "Skater vs. Instigator", which illustrates various amusing "parallels" between Baron Cohen and figure skater Sasha Cohen, ranging from their mutually held personal significance of the number 4 to their shared romantic interests in redheads.

In 2018, The Times named him among the 30 best living comedians.

Controversies, criticisms and lawsuits

Baron Cohen has been criticised for the racist or prejudiced comments his characters have made. HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer replied to the criticism and said, "Through his alter-egos, [Baron Cohen] delivers an obvious satire that exposes people's ignorance and prejudice in much the same way All in the Family did years ago." Regarding his portrayal as the anti-Semitic Borat, Baron Cohen says the segments are a "dramatic demonstration of how racism feeds on dumb conformity, as much as rabid bigotry" rather than a display of racism by Baron Cohen himself. He said, "Borat essentially works as a tool. By himself being anti-Semitic, he lets people lower their guard and expose their own prejudice." Addressing the same topic in an NPR interview with Robert Siegel, he said, "People really let down their guard with [Borat] because they're in a room with somebody who seems to have these outrageous opinions. They sometimes feel much more relaxed about letting their own outrageous, politically incorrect, prejudiced opinions come out." Baron Cohen said he also wishes in particular to expose the role of indifference in the Holocaust: "When I was in university, there was this major historian of the Third Reich, Ian Kershaw, who said, 'The path to Auschwitz was paved with indifference.' I know it's not very funny being a comedian talking about the Holocaust, but it's an interesting idea that not everyone in Germany had to be a raving anti-Semite. They just had to be apathetic." Regarding the enthusiastic response to his song "In My Country There Is Problem" (also known as "Throw the Jew Down the Well"), he said, "Did it reveal that [the cheering audience] were anti-Semitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just revealed that they were indifferent to anti-Semitism."

In an interview with former Tory MP politician Neil Hamilton in 2000, Ali G offered Hamilton what was allegedly cannabis, which Hamilton accepted and smoked, creating some minor controversy in the British media.

Residents of Glod, the Romanian village where the opening scene of Borat was filmed, attempted to sue the film's producers asserting that the film's intent was not properly explained to them. The villagers of Glod were paid the equivalent of four U.S. dollars a day each for their appearances and were told the film would be a documentary about the hardships of rural village life.

The government of Kazakhstan threatened Baron Cohen with legal action following the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony in Lisbon, and the authority in charge of the country's country-code top-level domain name removed the website that he had created for his character Borat (previously: http://www.borat.kz) for alleged violation of the law—specifically, registering for the domain under a false name. The New York Times, among others, has reported that Baron Cohen (in character as Borat) replied: "I'd like to state that I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my government decision to sue this Jew". He was, however, defended by Dariga Nazarbayeva, a politician and the daughter of Kazakhstan's then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stated, "We should not be afraid of humour and we shouldn't try to control everything...". The deputy foreign minister of Kazakhstan later invited Baron Cohen to visit the country, stating that he could learn that "women drive cars, wine is made of grapes, and Jews are free to go to synagogues". After the success of the Borat film, the Kazakh government, including the president, altered their stance on Baron Cohen's parody, tacitly recognising the valuable press coverage the controversy created for their country.

Personal life

Baron Cohen met Australian actress Isla Fisher at a party in Sydney in 2001 and they became engaged in 2004. She later converted to Judaism, and they were married in a Jewish ceremony on 15 March 2010 in Milan and Paris. They have two daughters (born 2007 and 2010) and a son (born 2015). They divided their time between the Marylebone district of London and the Laurel Canyon neighbourhood of Los Angeles, before settling in Sydney. On 5 April 2024, they jointly revealed that they had filed for divorce at the end of 2023. On 13 June 2025, both Baron Cohen and Fisher announced that they had finalised their divorce, while stating that they remain friends.

Baron Cohen has said of his Jewish identity, "I wouldn't say I am a religious Jew. I am proud of my Jewish identity and there are certain things I do and customs I keep." He tries to keep kosher, attends synagogue about twice a year, and is fluent in Hebrew. He first acted in theatrical productions with the Labour Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror.

Filmography