Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, filmmaker, and comedian. He is best known for inventing and playing the satirical fictional characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen. His career has brought him two British Academy Television Awards and three Golden Globes, plus nominations for three Academy Awards and six Primetime Emmy Awards. Critics have called him a performance artist because of his character work.

Baron Cohen first gained attention on the late-night TV show *The 11 O'Clock Show* (1998–1999), where he won the British Comedy Award for Best Male Newcomer. He then created and starred as Ali G in the satirical sketch comedy *Da Ali G Show* (2000–2004), winning two British Academy Television Awards. He created and starred in the Showtime mockumentary series *Who Is America?* (2018), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. He played Eli Cohen in the Netflix limited series *The Spy* (2019), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, and appeared in the Apple TV+ limited series *Disclaimer* (2024). He also played Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with the miniseries *Ironheart* (2025).

Baron Cohen wrote and starred in *Borat* (2006) and *Borat Subsequent Moviefilm* (2020). For the latter, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. His role as Abbie Hoffman in the legal drama *The Trial of the Chicago 7* (2020) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also wrote, produced, and starred in the comedies *Ali G Indahouse* (2002), *Brüno* (2009), *The Dictator* (2012), and *Grimsby* (2016), and acted in dramas such as *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street* (2007), *Hugo* (2011), and *Les Misérables* (2012).

He voiced King Julien XIII in the *Madagascar* film series (2005–2012) and Uncle Ugo in *Luca* (2021). Since 2008, he has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actors Branch.

**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, Daniella (née Weiser), a photographer, was born in Mandatory Palestine in 1939 to German Jewish parents. His father, Gerald "Jerry" Baron Cohen (1932–2016), an editor turned clothing-store owner, was born into a Belarusian Jewish family in London and grew up in Pontypridd, Wales. Baron Cohen's paternal grandfather, Morris Moses Cohen, added "Baron" to the 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 he often works with, and Amnon. His cousins include autism researcher Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, playwright Dan Baron Cohen, and filmmaker Ash Baron-Cohen.

He attended the independent Catholic St Columba's College in St Albans, then moved to the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree. He studied history at Christ's College, Cambridge, focusing on antisemitism. In summer 1992, as an undergraduate, he spent months at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta researching his dissertation on 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, performing in shows like *Fiddler on the Roof* and *Cyrano de Bergerac*, and acted with the Labour youth movement Habonim Dror. He played the cello growing up and made his television debut as a cellist on *Fanfare for Young Musicians*.

**Career**

**Early roles**

Baron Cohen grew up admiring Monty Python and Peter Cook, but his biggest comedic influence was Peter Sellers, whom he called "this incredibly realistic actor, who was also hilarious and who managed to bridge the gap between comedy and satire." Sellers, known for playing many comic characters with different accents and disguises, was described by Baron Cohen as "the most seminal force in shaping [his] early ideas on comedy." After university, he worked briefly as a fashion model. In the early 1990s, he hosted a weekly programme on Windsor cable television with Carol Kirkwood, later a BBC weather forecaster. In 1995, Channel 4 sought replacements for *The Word* and put out an open call for new presenters. Baron Cohen sent a tape that caught a producer's attention. He hosted *Pump TV* from 1995 to 1996.

In 1996, he began presenting the youth chat programme *F2F* for Granada Talk TV and had a small role in a McCain Microchips ad, playing a chef in a commercial called "Ping Pong." He took clown training in Paris at the École Philippe Gaulier, studying under master-clown Philippe Gaulier. Gaulier said of him, "He was a good clown, full of spirit," while Baron Cohen remarked, "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). That same year, he played Super Greg in a series of Lee Jeans TV ads that never aired, though the Super Greg website became an internet sensation.

**Characters**

**Ali G**

Baron Cohen shot to fame with his character Ali G.