About

The through-line

Every character Sacha Baron Cohen has built works the same way. A person who could not possibly be taken seriously is placed in front of people who take themselves very seriously, and the camera records what they do next. Some correct him. Most do not. What they say instead is the point.

That method began on British television in 1998 with Ali G, a suburban wannabe who interviewed the establishment. It travelled to America with Borat, an eager foreign reporter who let strangers voice their prejudices out loud. It sharpened into confrontation with Bruno, moved into scripted satire with The Dictator, and returned to its roots in 2018 with Who Is America?. Across all of it the target was the comfortable assumption, the deference to authority, the prejudice that only needs an invitation.

Early life and Cambridge

He grew up in a Jewish family in London, the son of a menswear shop owner and a movement instructor. He read History at Christ's College, Cambridge, and spent his spare time in the Footlights. His undergraduate thesis, on the cooperation between Black and Jewish communities during the civil rights movement, was researched at the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta and won a prize. In 2023 he joined the King family at the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, where he gave the speech that opens the Activism page. Before comedy paid, he worked as a fashion model and hosted a satellite television show.

The characters

Ali G's appearances on The 11 O'Clock Show led to Da Ali G Show on Channel 4 in 2000, two BAFTA Television Awards, a feature film in 2002, and an HBO run in 2003 and 2004 that introduced Borat and Bruno to American audiences. Borat's 2006 film became a worldwide phenomenon and earned him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay. Bruno followed in 2009 and The Dictator in 2012. In between, he voiced King Julien, the self-crowned lemur king of the Madagascar films.

Because his face became too familiar for hidden-camera work, the next decade brought scripted roles: Thénardier in Les Misérables, Inspector Gustave in Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Time in Alice Through the Looking Glass, the Israeli agent Eli Cohen in The Spy, and Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7, which brought a second Academy Award nomination. In 2020 he returned to Borat one last time, a decision he has explained in his own words.

Speaking in his own voice

In November 2019 he accepted the Anti-Defamation League's International Leadership Award and gave, as himself, a speech about the responsibilities of the largest internet companies. He has since written and spoken, under his own name, about antisemitism, conspiracy theories and the health of democracy, and has supported humanitarian work in Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. Those speeches, articles and causes are collected in Activism, and his statements, with dates and sources, in Statements.

Now

His first feature film as director, Ali G: Who Iz I?, opens on October 23, 2026 from Amazon MGM Studios, twenty years after the character last led a film.