Sacha Baron Cohen Biography

His upbringing was more than comfortable as he was rewarded with a high standard of living and the best education. He attended the reputable Haberdasher-Askes Boys’ School, where fellow Jewish comedians David Baddiel and Matt Lucas were also were pupils.
Cohen joined the Habonim Jewish Youth Group in 1989 and spent a year in Israel learning more about his faith. On his return he headed off to study history at Christ's College, Cambridge where he joined the university's amateur dramatic club.

Acting in plays such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Fiddler on the Roof ignited a passion for acting and while he worked towards his history degree, he also kept one eye firmly focused on his hobby. After graduating, Cohen hosted a weekly programme on a cable television network but was fired for broadcasting a lewd presentation for Valentine's Day - a glimmer of his future to come perhaps.

However it was to be a moment of fate in 1995 that would transform Cohen's fortunes. Channel 4 was planning a replacement for its cult series The Word, and sent out an open call for new television presenters. Cohen responded, sending in a tape of himself in the character of Kristo, a fictional television reporter from Albania (who eventually became the Kazakhstani Borat), which caught the attention of a producer and from there, he was hired as a regular on the newly commissioned 11 O'Clock Show.

Soon the character of Ali G was born and became the star attraction of the TV programme, thanks to Cohen's trademark of embarrassing interviewers and his brash send-up of street lingo. Winning Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards in 1999 gave Cohen the ticket to branch out alone with his own programme, Da Ali G Show in 2000.

Cohen's interviews as Ali G became notorious across the nation, with him receiving many accolades including a BAFTA for Best Comedy and even appearing in Madonna's video for her single, Music. The character gained notoriety because the targets of his humour were always unaware of the joke and believed Ali G to be a real interviewer.

Cohen loved to put his subjects on the spot with risque questions and the joke would continue as they either became increasingly uncomfortable or instead let the conversation take an unexpected turn. Leading figures Cohen interviewed as Ali G have included Buzz Aldrin, Tony Benn, Mohamed Al-Fayed and Donald Trump.

For Cohen, his alter ego had proved to be more than just a comedic vehicle - it was the beginning of a prosperous career. To ellaborate on his comedy skills, Cohen soon wheeled out another tongue-in-cheek character to counteract Ali G's fans- Borat. Borat had in fact first been created by Cohen back in 1997 but he thought the time was now right to develop the character further as he had established himself at the helm of his own television series.

Borat's Kazakhstan heritage gave Cohen a wide berth to poke fun at the nation with his racist jokes, stemming from the fact Borat is the son of the village rapist, his mother being only nine when she gave birth to him! These clever Cohen details would see Borat's fame rise as high, if not higher than Ali G's yet resulting in some problems for him further down the line.

Both Ali G and Borat soon crossed the Atlantic where Da Ali G Show appeared on American cable television in 2003. The act went down well in the USA but Cohen's first feature film Ali G Indahouse (2002) was only released in the UK. Cohen's time in the USA was not wasted though as Dreamworks picked up on his talents and he leant his voice to the animation Madagascar in 2005.

With Ali G taking a back seat for a while, it was to be Borat who kept Cohen's light burning with the release to the big screen of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan in 2006.

The hysterical ‘mockumentary’ followed the crude and backwards Borat on a trip to the United States with most of the events and people depicted in the film being real. Many of the dupes reported later that they were completely convinced they were talking to a Kazakh journalist. Prior to the film’s release, Cohen lobbied the public in true politician style (as Borat) on the campaign trail, appearing on any talk shows that would have him including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman.

The film was a huge box office success, hitting the number on spot in the US. Cohen won the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy, while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Golden Globe and Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award.

Not a stranger to public controversies, Cohen had continued to garner troubles from the early days of Ali G because of racist or prejudiced comments he made while in character. One such entity to not see the funny side of Cohen's joke was Kazakhstan - the country in which Cohen had earned a fortune taking the pee out off as Borat. In reaction to his sexist, racist slurs, the Kazakhstan government responded in 2005 by threatening to take legal action over comments made while Cohen was hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards in character as Borat.

Not one to pass up the opportunity to create another comedic moment, Cohen responded to the legal threat by posting a video on his website in character as Borat saying, "I'd like to state that I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my government decision to sue this Jew. Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats and age of consent has been raised to eight years old."

Cohen was, however, recently defended by Dariga Nazarbayeva, a politician and the daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who said “we should not be afraid of humour and we shouldn't try to control everything, I think.”

Cohen has often been confused with the identity of one of his characters and it is rare that the public ever gets to glimpse the real him. The little the media have been enticed with is his relationship with actress Isla Fisher, to whom he is engaged and their first baby, Olive, was born in October 2007. The pair met in 2002 and Cohen proposed two years later with talk of Fisher planning to convert to Judaism for a traditional Jewish ceremony.

As a rule, Cohen rarely gives interviews as himself but he did embark on the talk show circuit back in 2004 to promote his series in America.

Having seen both his creations, Ali G and Borat on the big screen, there are rumours that Cohen plans to put the spotlight onto his other character, Bruno. The gay Austrian fashion show presenter is a step away from both Ali G and Borat but follows the same parallel in subjecting his interviewees to provocative statements and embarrassing acts. It is reported Universal Pictures have paid $42.5 million for the rights to the film. What people will really be focusing on though is if Cohen can top his own humour scale with the new script.

Cohen's fans and press eagerly await his next comedic outing and if his track record is anything to go by, things can only get better.