About Sacha Cohen

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is a British comedian, writer, and Golden Globe-winning actor most noted for his comic characters Ali G (an inner city youth chav from suburban Staines), Borat (a Kazakh reporter), and Bruno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter). In his routine, he typically conducts interviews with respected figures while posing as one of his characters for comedic effect. Those he interviews ostensibly believe that the interviews are sincere and legitimate. Sacha Baron Cohen's work has been recognized with several Emmy nominations, an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, a BAFTA award, and a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his work in the feature film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

After the release of the Borat film, he announced that because the public had become too familiar with the characters, he would retire Borat and Ali G.

Family


Sacha Baron Cohen was born in Hammersmith, London, England,the youngest of three sons in an Orthodox Jewish family.His mother, Daniella (née Weiser), teaches at a school of movement and was born in Israel. His father, Gerald Baron Cohen, was originally from Wales.Baron Cohen's paternal grandfather was born in Pontypridd, and his maternal grandmother, who now lives in Haifa, Israel, was an acclaimed ballet dancer from Germany. His paternal great grandfather was born in Kaunas, Lithuania.His brother Erran Baron Cohen, a composer and trumpet player, contributed to the Borat film with the song "O Kazakhstan." Sacha Baron Cohen's cousin is Simon Baron-Cohen, a renowned professor in the study of autism spectrum disorders, at Cambridge University.


Career

Early roles



After leaving the university, Cohen worked for a time as a male fashion model, appearing in many fashion magazines. By the early 1990s, he was hosting a weekly program on Windsor cable television's local broadcasts alongside Carol Kirkwood, who later became the BBC anchor for weather broadcasts. He was fired by Windsor TV for broadcasting a lewd presentation for Valentine's Day. 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 in the character of Kristo, a fictional television reporter from Albania (who developed into the Kazakhstani Borat), which caught the attention of a producer. Baron Cohen bided his time by working for a Swindon-based television company. The late nineties saw Cohen make his first feature film appearance in the British comedy The Jolly Boys' Last Stand. He also presented the youth chat program F2F.

Ali G character



Baron Cohen appeared during 2-minute sketches as his fashion reporter Bruno on The Paramount Comedy Channel during 1998. He shot to fame when his comic character Ali G, an uneducated, boorish Junglist, started appearing on The Eleven O'Clock Show on Channel 4, which first went to air 8 September 1998.

Da Ali G Show began in 2000, and won the BAFTA for Best Comedy 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 exported to the United States in 2003 (with new episodes set in America) for HBO.

TV, radio and magazine appearances

Baron Cohen tends to avoid doing interviews out of character. However, in 2004, he did the talk show circuit appearing as himself on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Opie and Anthony Show, The Howard Stern Show,and others in order to promote the upcoming season of his show on HBO. He was also interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered.He also did an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, 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 not only that he attended a party for the London premiere of "Borat", but also that a party even occurred."

It was reported online that Baron Cohen may play Freddie Mercury in a biographical film.However, his publicist has declared that Baron Cohen will not be playing the part.

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 mutual romantic interests in redheads.

Baron Cohen featured in the Time 100 list for 2007.

Personal life



Baron Cohen is engaged to the Australian actress Isla Fisher. After several years of study, Isla has converted to Judaism, and has received the approval of Baron Cohen's observant Jewish parents.On October 19, 2007 Isla gave birth to a baby girl named Olive Baron Cohen in Los Angeles, California.

The couple reside in Los Angeles and London.

Performer versus 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 emphasizing that a Kazakhstani news reporter hosted the awards, while others noticed and pointed out the error.

Awards and nominations

* 1999 - Won British Comedy Award, Best Male Comedy Newcomer for The 11 O'Clock Show (1998)
* 2000 - Nominated BAFTA TV Award, Best Entertainment Performance for The 11 O'Clock Show (1998)
* 2000 - Nominated National Television Awards, UK, Most Popular Comedy Performer for Da Ali G Show (2000)
* 2000 - Won TV Quick Award, TV Personality of the Year for Da Ali G Show (2000)
* 2001 - Won BAFTA TV Award, Best Comedy (Programme or Series) for Da Ali G Show (2000) (shared)
* 2001 - Won BAFTA TV Award, Best Comedy Performance for Da Ali G Show (2000)
* 2003 - Nominated Emmy Award, Outstanding Non-Fiction Program (Alternative) for Da Ali G Show (2003) (shared)
* 2003 - Nominated Emmy Award, Outstanding Writing for Non-Fiction Programming for Da Ali G Show (2003) (shared)
* 2004 - Nominated Golden Satellite Award, Best Performance by an Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for Da Ali G Show (2003)
* 2005 - Nominated Emmy Award, Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series for Da Ali G Show (2003) (shared)
* 2005 - Nominated Emmy Award, Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for Da Ali G Show (2003) (shared)
* 2006 - Won Ronnie Barker Award[50]
* 2007 - Won MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss alongside Will Ferrell in Talladega Nights