Sacha Baron Cohen

His father, editor-turned-clothing store owner Gerald "Jerry" Baron Cohen (1932–2016), was born into a Belarusian Ashkenazi 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 first educated at the independent Catholic St Columba's College in St Albans, before moving on to attend the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree.

His mother, photographer Daniella (née Weiser), was born in British Mandatory Palestine in 1939.

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (סָשָׁה נֹעַם בָּרוֹן כֹּהֵן; born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor, writer and producer.

He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen.

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen was born into a Jewish family in the Hammersmith area of London on 13 October 1971.

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.

He then studied history with a focus on antisemitism at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1993 with upper-second-class honours.

As an undergraduate, he wrote his thesis on the role of 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 acted in shows with the Labour youth movement Habonim Dror.

He played the cello while growing up, and made his original television debut as a cellist on Fanfare for Young Musicians.

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.

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".

Baron Cohen appeared during two-minute sketches as his fashion reporter Brüno on the Paramount Comedy Channel during 1998.

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 as his character Ali G in Da Ali G Show (2000–2004), receiving two BAFTA Awards.

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.

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).

His voice acting roles include King Julien XIII in the Madagascar film series (2005–2012) and Uncle Ugo in Luca (2021).

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 also appeared in dramatic films including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Hugo (2011), Les Misérables (2012), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020).

He has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actors Branch since 2008.

At the 2012 British Comedy Awards, Baron Cohen 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 2016, he starred in Grimsby and co-starred in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

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

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.