Sacha Baron Cohen

This article is about the British comedian. For the figure skater, see Sasha Cohen.

Sacha Baron Cohen
Ali G, delivering the Class Day speech to the Harvard class of 2004, in front of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard, June 9, 2004
Height	6' 3 1/2" (1.92 m)
Spouse	Engaged to Isla Fisher

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born October 13, 1971) is a British comedian and actor notable for his successful and controversial comic characters, including Ali G (a gangsta wannabe from West Staines, England), Borat (a Kazakhstani reporter), and Brüno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter). All three characters are featured in Da Ali G Show, an often unscripted program in which Sacha Baron Cohen conducts interviews as one of his three characters with people who ostensibly believe that the interviews are on the level. His work has been recognized with a BAFTA award, and earned an Emmy nomination.

Personal life and publicity

Baron Cohen was born in Hammersmith, London, England to an Orthodox Jewish family. He is the second of three sons of Gerald Baron Cohen and Daniella Weiser; his father owns a menswear shop in Piccadilly and is originally from Wales, while his mother is Israeli.

The Baron Cohens lived a comfortable middle-class existence, which afforded young Sacha the opportunity to attend Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, a private school in Elstree. He then attended Christ's College at the University of Cambridge where he studied history and wrote his dissertation on Jewish involvement in the American Civil Rights movement, focusing especially on the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

In 1989, Baron Cohen joined the Habonim Dror Jewish Youth Group and appeared in Neil Simon's play Biloxi Blues, thus igniting his passion for acting. At Habonim Dror, he became an outstanding ga-ga-ball player, winning the Habonim UK ga-ga championship on multiple occasions. In 1992 he led his country to a silver medal in the world ga-ga ball championships, coming second to the undefeated Australian Habonim team. His acting plans soon went on hold, as Cohen left London for Israel, where he spent a year at the Rosh Hanikra Kibbutz, learning more about his roots and faith.[1] He returned to Israel in 2005 to coach the Machon Frisbee team in the play-off match at Kibbutz Revivim. Machon came back to defeat Chalutz from 2-8 down to win 10-8. Baron Cohen was awarded the kibbutz's highest honor for his efforts.

At Cambridge University's 'Footlights', Baron Cohen acted in plays such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Fiddler on the Roof. He was much less active in the club than his long time collaborator Dan Mazer, and did not feature in any of their major revues.

Baron Cohen is engaged to Australian actress Isla Fisher, and the pair plan to wed in a traditional Jewish wedding. Fisher pledged to convert to Judaism before the wedding, and received the blessing of Baron Cohen's devout Jewish parents. According to film producer Jay Roach, Baron Cohen is also himself devout; Roach told reporters that Baron Cohen keeps kosher and will not use the phone on the Sabbath. [2]

Baron Cohen is the second cousin of University of Cambridge Professor of Developmental Psychopathology Simon Baron-Cohen.

Baron Cohen rarely does interviews out of character. But in 2004, he did the talk show circuit appearing as himself on The Daily Show video, The Late Show with David Letterman [3], The Howard Stern Show[4], and others. Director Larry Charles claims that Baron Cohen generally appears in character partly to "protect the product", by focusing public interest on his characters rather than himself.[5] His other reason, Newsweek claims, is that Baron Cohen is fiercely private: "...according to the U.K. press, his publicists denied not only that he attended a party for "Borat"'s recent London premiere, but also that a party even occurred." [6]

Career

Early career

In 1995, Channel 4 was planning a replacement for its series The Word and put out an open call for new presenters. Baron Cohen sent in a tape of himself in the character of Carrique, a fictional television reporter from Albania (who developed into the Kazakhstani reporter Borat), which caught the attention of a producer. Baron Cohen bided his time by working for a Swindon-based television company, and his first feature film appearance occurred during this period.

'Ali G' and rise to celebrity

Baron Cohen shot to fame when his comic character Ali G, an idiotic wannabe gangsta rapper, started appearing on The Eleven O'Clock Show on Channel 4 which first went to air Sept 8 1998. Da Ali G Show began in 2000, and won the BAFTA for best comedy series in the following year. Also in 2000, Ali G appeared in Madonna's music video "Music".

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 hometown, Staines. His television show was brought to the United States in 2003 (with new episodes set in America) for HBO.

Ali G's interviews with famous people (often politicians) gained notoriety partly because the subjects were not privy to the joke that Baron Cohen was playing a comedic character. On at least one occasion, the interviewee was merely told that Ali G had a popular show on MTV that kids watched. The resulting willingness of Ali G's targets to answer his frequently risqué questions often created surprising conversations. Notable interviewees have included astronaut Buzz Aldrin, writer Gore Vidal, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, basketballer Shaquille O'Neal, Egyptian millionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, political commentator Pat Buchanan, Professor Noam Chomsky, footballer David Beckham, former UN Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali (whom Baron Cohen, in his Ali G character, referred to as 'Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros-Ghali'), British ex-politician Neil Hamilton, and journalist Andy Rooney -- the latter being one of the few personalities who angrily and abruptly ended the interview after Ali G questioned his 'racialist' insensitivity. (Rooney apparently had no idea that "racialist" is standard British English for the American "racist.")[7]

Borat and Bruno

Sacha Baron Cohen as 'Brüno'

Other characters created by Baron Cohen include 'Borat', a naïve, sexist, anti-semitic television reporter from Kazakhstan. Baron Cohen's third alter ego is 'Brüno', a gay Austrian fashion show presenter with a Nazi streak, who often lures his subjects into unwittingly making provocative statements and engaging in embarrassing behaviour, as well as leading them to contradict themselves, often in the same interview. Brüno asks the subjects to answer 'yes or no' questions with either "Vassap" for yes or "Ich Don't Think So" for no, or on their opinions "achya" or "nich nich". This is an update of an early Bruno character played by Cohen on the Paramount Comedy Channel in the 1990's, who had bleached blond hair and was a very inept interviewer, often mucking up his technique when under extreme pressure.

Baron Cohen as Borat in Times Square

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a feature film with 'Borat' at the centre, was screened at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and released in the United Kingdom November 2, 2006, and in the USA on November 3rd, 2006. The film is about a journey across the United States in an ice cream van, in which the main character is obsessed with the idea of marrying Pamela Anderson. It is said to be an unscripted mockumentary, but includes interviews (with various American citizens) that poke fun at the hobgoblins of American culture, including sexism, racism, homophobia and jingoism. It debuted at the #1 spot in the US, taking in an estimated $26.4 million in a total of only 837 theatres throughout the country. It easily outdistanced the expected #1 movie of the weekend Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, which landed at the #2 spot, earning an estimated total of $20 million in 3,458 cinemas.

Aside from the comic elements of his characters, Baron Cohen's performances sometimes reflect the uncomfortable truths about his audience. He juxtaposes his own Jewish lineage with the anti-Semitism of his character Borat. In one sketch, Borat goes to a bar singing an anti-Semitic song called 'Throw the Jew Down the Well', with many in the bar singing along.

Baron Cohen garnered much attention at the première in Toronto when he arrived as Borat on the red carpet in a carriage pulled by six 'peasant' women, while he and his horse rode effortlessly. [8]

Other appearances

File:Rickybobbyalig.JPG

Cohen in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Baron Cohen guest-starred in the finale of the fifth season Curb Your Enthusiasm, with Dustin Hoffman as a guide to Heaven. He also provided the voice of the lemur king, King Julien, in Dreamworks children's movie Madagascar (2005), and appeared as Will Ferrell's archrival Jean Girard in the 2006 hit Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Baron Cohen has twice presented the MTV Europe Music Awards, first as Ali G on November 8, 2001 in Frankfurt, Germany, and then as Borat on November 3, 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal. He also delivered the 2004 Class Day address at Harvard University as Ali G, the day before the graduation ceremony. At the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, Borat introduced Gnarls Barkley's performance of "Crazy"; the audience booed him when he started making anti-Semitic comments, and Borat's appearance was cut from subsequent rebroadcasts.

Baron Cohen is a supporter of Comic Relief, and (as Ali G) has hosted interviews with, among others, footballer David Beckham and wife Victoria, for the benefit of the charity.

Controversies

Baron Cohen has encountered several controversies regarding some of his comic characters.

• In an interview with Neil Hamilton in 2000, Ali G offered Hamilton what was allegedly marijuana, which Hamilton accepted and smoked, creating some minor controversy in the British media.
• Baron Cohen has had some troubles because of racist or prejudiced comments his characters have made (see Da Ali G Show). HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer has replied to the criticisms: 'Through his alter-egos, he delivers an obvious satire that exposes people's ignorance and prejudice in much the same way All in the Family did years ago.' [9]
• The government of Kazakhstan threatened Baron Cohen with legal action after the 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 currently: http://www.borat.tv/) 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) has urged them on, stating 'Sue this Jew!' He was, however, recently defended by Dariga Nazarbayeva, a politician and the daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stated 'We should not be afraid of humour and we shouldn't try to control everything, I think.' The deputy foreign minister of Kazakhstan has recently 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.'
• Most recently, Cohen encountered another problem around his Borat character; boys in a fraternity, which appear in Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan are sueing the film, declaring that they were duped into declaring racial slurs in the film. They say they were given drinks before hand "to loosen up".

Performer vs. characters

Baron Cohen has often been confused with the identity of one of his characters. When he posed as Borat to host the MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, the central Hungarian news wire agency MTI reported that the host was 'Borat Sagdiyev'. As most Hungarian newspapers and television networks take MTI as their official source, the misinterpretation of the character spread rapidly in Hungary, with some sources (such as TV2) emphasizing that a Kazakhstani news reporter hosted the awards, while others (such as Index.hu) noticed and pointed out the error.

Filmography

Year	Titel	Role	Other notes
2008	Dinner for Schmucks		in-development
2008	Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill	Curly Oxide	scripting
2008	Bruno	Bruno	announced
2008	Madagascar 2	Julien	voice only, filming
2007	Sweeney Todd	Signor Adolfo Pirelli	In talks, pre-production
2006	Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Event for Autism Education	Borat Sagdiyev	TV special
2006	Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan	Borat Sagdiyev	Blockbuster Movie
2006	Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby	Jean Girard
2005	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Larry's Guide #2	TV series, guest star in episode "The End"
2005	Madagaskar	Julien	voice only
2003-2004	Da Ali G Show	Ali G / Borat Sagdiyev / Bruno
2003	Spyz	Ali G	short film
2002	Ali G Indahouse	Ali G / Borat Sagdiyev
2000	The Jolly Boys' Last Stand	Vinnie
2000	Da Ali G Show	Ali G / Borat Sagdiyev	TV series
1998-1999	The 11 O'Clock Show	Ali G	TV series
1998	Live from the Lighthouse	Ali G	TV special
1996	Punch		short film
1995	Jack and Jeremy's Police 4	Various	TV special

External links

• Realy nicee Fanpage
• IMDB entry
• Sacha Baron Cohen interview with NPR's Robert Siegel
• Official Borat Homesite (created after the original site, www.borat.kz, was taken down by Kazakh authorities)
• The Jolly Boys Last Stand
• Yahoo biography
• ThrowawayyourTV.com Sacha Baron Cohen Video Archive
• Borat's Myspace
• Sasha Baron Cohen's characters video collection
• 'Borat' Earns Glorious $26.4M in Debut
• Sacha Baron Cohen Website