Sacha Baron Cohen Biography
Summary
"Sacha Noam Baron Cohen" (born 13 October, 1971) is a British comedian, writer and actor most noted for his comic characters Borat (a Kazakh reporter), Ali G (a junglist-hip hop gangsta wannabe from suburban Staines) and Bruno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter).
All three characters are featured in "Da Ali G Show", a program in which Baron Cohen conducts interviews while posing as one of his three characters. His interviewees believe that the ostensible interviews are sincere and legitimate.
His 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".
Biography
Family
Baron Cohen was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to an Orthodox Jewish family. 'Baron' is not a title of nobility but the Jewish name 'Baruch' adapted to the English language. Baron Cohen's cousin, British psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen, uses a slightly different form.
Baron Cohen is the youngest of three sons of parents Gerald Baron Cohen and Daniella Weiser. His father, originally from Wales, owns a menswear shop in Piccadilly. His paternal grandfather was born in Pontypridd. His mother, who teaches at a school of movement, was born in Israel. His maternal grandmother, who now lives in Haifa, Israel, was an acclaimed ballet dancer from Germany. His brother Erran Baron Cohen, a composer and trumpet player with Middle Eastern influences and a founding member of the British electronica world-music group Zöhar, lent his talents to the Borat film with the song 'O Kazakhstan' and others.
Education
The Baron Cohens enjoyed a comfortable standard of living. Sacha attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, a private school in Elstree. The same school was also attended by fellow Jewish comedians Matt Lucas and David Baddiel. He also attended Dulwich College in St Albans. He then attended Christ's College at the University of Cambridge where he studied history under Niall Ferguson and wrote his thesis on Jewish involvement in the American Civil Rights movement, with emphasis on the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.
At the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, Baron Cohen acted in plays such as "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Fiddler on the Roof", in which he played Tevye. His long-time collaborator Dan Mazer also attended the University of Cambridge and was a member of the Cambridge Footlights, and although Baron Cohen himself was not a member, he performed in at least one Footlights presentation as well as other shows (including singing the part of Guy Fawkes in the musical "Gunpowder, Treason and Plot").
Israel and Judaism
Baron Cohen first acted in theatrical productions featuring the Socialist-Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror.
He spent a year in Israel at Kibbutz Rosh HaNikra and Kibbutz Beit HaEmek as part of the Shnat Habonim Dror, before matriculating to university.
According to Baron Cohen, 'I wouldn't say that I am a religious Jew, but I'm still proud to be Jewish.' However, he keeps kosher and generally observes the Jewish Sabbath, refusing to answer the phone on Shabbat.
Ironically, Baron Cohen frequently speaks in Hebrew while playing the anti-Semitic character Borat. He also sings the lyrics from an old Hebrew folk song in the "Borat" film, and identifies his country's greatest scientist, who he says discovered that a woman's brain is the same size as that of a squirrel, as 'Dr Yarmulke'. (A yarmulke, or kippah, is the skullcap often worn by observant Jews.)
Personal life
Baron Cohen is engaged to Australian actress Isla Fisher, and the pair plan to wed in a traditional Jewish ceremony. After several years of study, Isla has converted to Judaism, and has received the approval of Baron Cohen's observant Jewish parents. On 19 October 2007 Isla gave birth to a baby girl named Olive in Los Angeles, California.
Career
Early career
In the early 1990s Baron Cohen was hosting a weekly program on Windsor cable television's local broadcasts alongside Carol Kirkwood, who has become the BBC anchor for weather broadcasts. He was fired by Windsor TV for broadcasting a lewd presentation for St. 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; during this period he made his first feature film appearance.
Ali G character
After a brief office-work career which included a stint as a quantitative analyst specialising in index arbitrage at investment bank Goldman Sachs, Baron Cohen went back into acting, appearing 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 idiotic Junglist, started appearing on "The Eleven O'Clock Show" on Channel 4, which first went to air September 8 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'.
"Ali G Indahouse" film
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 interviews
Ali G's interviews with famous people (often politicians) gained notoriety partly because the subjects were not privy to the joke that Ali G, rather than being a real interviewer, was a comedic character played by Baron Cohen. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Baron Cohen would always enter the interview area in character as Ali G, carrying equipment and appearing to be an insignificant crew-member. He would be with a suited man, who the interviewee naturally thought was the interviewer. Baron Cohen, as Ali G, would sit down to begin conducting the interview by asking the interviewee some preliminary questions. The interviewee, however, would remain under the impression that the smartly-dressed director would be conducting the interview until short notice prior to cameras rolling: this would grant an advantage of surprise, whereby the interviewee would be less likely to opt out of the Ali interview prior to its commencement.
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
public advocate Ralph Nader
writer Gore Vidal
real estate mogul Donald Trump
former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
basketball player Shaquille O'Neal
former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III
Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed
former US Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
political commentator Pat Buchanan
Professor Noam Chomsky
British soccer player David Beckham and his wife, Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice).
former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali (whom Baron Cohen, in his Ali G character, referred to as 'Boutros Boutros Boutros "Boutros"-Ghali')
former Conservative Party MP Neil Hamilton
journalist Andy Rooney
Labour politician Tony Benn
Rooney was one of the few personalities who grew extremely frustrated, particularly with Ali G's incorrect grammar, and abruptly ended the interview, prompting Ali G to ask 'is it 'cos I is black?' and to accuse Rooney of being 'racialist'.
Another interview, with former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, grew so contentious that Fitzwater ended the interview and proclaimed about Ali G 'The guy's an idiot.'
Secretary Boutros-Ghali was one of the most sporting interview participants, and ended his interview by repeating the prompted phrase 'My name is Boutros Boutros-Ghali, put down your guns and listen to Bob Marley' with good humour and a smile.
Bruno character
Baron Cohen's second alter ego is 'Bruno' (sometimes written Brüno), a gay Austrian fashion show presenter, who often lures his subjects into unwittingly making provocative statements and engaging in embarrassing behavior, as well as leading them to contradict themselves, often in the same interview. Bruno asks the subjects to answer 'yes or no' questions with either 'Vassap' (yes), or 'Ich don't think so' (no), or sometimes 'Ach, ja!' (oh yes!) or 'Nicht, nicht' (not, not). In at least one segment on "Da Ali G Show" he encouraged his guest to answer questions with either 'Keep them in the ghetto' or 'Train to Auschwitz'. Bruno's main comedic satire pertains to the vacuity and inanity of the fashion and clubbing world, so for instance the aforesaid indifference towards potentially upsetting Holocaust references is intended to reveal a certain insularity surrounding the cultural context of the interviewee.
Plans are underway for Baron Cohen to bring Bruno to the big screen, and after an intense bidding war that included such Hollywood powerhouses as DreamWorks, Sony, and 20th Century Fox; Universal Pictures paid a reported $42.5 million for the rights to the movie. According to insiders, Baron Cohen himself is getting paid $13 million upfront, and will also receive 15% of the box office take. That means if the film (tentatively titled 'Brüno') does as well as 'Borat', Baron Cohen stands to make approximately $30 million.
Borat character
"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, in the United States on November 3, 2006 and Australia November 23, 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. The film is a mockumentary which includes interviews with various American citizens that poke fun at the hobgoblins of American culture, including sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, jingoism and "Baywatch".
It debuted at the #1 spot in the US, taking in an estimated $26.4 million in just 837 theatres averaging $31,600 per theatre, the third highest per-theatre average of all time for movies opening wide (500 screens or more), behind "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Spider-Man". It easily outdistanced the expected #1 movie of the weekend, Disney's "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause", which earned an estimated $20 million in 3,458 cinemas.
Baron Cohen won the 2007 Golden Globe in the 'Best Actor - Musical or Comedy' category, his sixth such award. Although Borat was up for 'Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,' the film lost to "Dreamgirls". On 23 January 2007, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He shared his nomination with the film's co-writers, Ant Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, and Todd Phillips.
Aside from the comic elements of his characters, Baron Cohen's performances are interpreted by some as reflecting uncomfortable truths about his audience. He juxtaposes his own Jewish lineage with the anti-Semitism of his character Borat. In one sketch from the TV show (and as such, not included in the film), Borat performs at a small-town USA bar singing an anti-Semitic song called 'In My Country There is Problem' (including lyrics such as 'Throw the Jew down the well!', 'You must grab the Jew by his horns' and 'The Jews take everybody's money; they never give it back'), with many in the bar singing along.
Although the character Borat is Kazakh, he frequently begins segments with Polish expressions 'Jak si? masz?' (How are you?), 'Dzie? dobry' (Good day) and 'Dziekuj?' (Thank you). His use of 'Boutrous' was used on BBC's "The Fast Show" sketches, and Mahir 'I Kiss You' Ça?r? publicly claims much of the Borat character was based on him. Borat's favorite singer is Korki Buchek. He sings the famous song 'Bing Bang'. In one scene of the film, Borat encounters some men from Atlanta, Georgia. When asked of his favorite music, he shares the name Korki Buchek and proceeds to sing a song, which causes the men from Atlanta to laugh at him.
Flying Dolphin Press announced on May 23, 2007 that Cohen would be publishing a travel guide as Borat, with dual titles: "Borat: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of U.S. and A." and "Borat: Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan". No release date has been announced.
Other appearances
Baron Cohen as Ali G appeared as the limousine driver in Madonna's 2000 video 'Music', directed by Jonas Åkerlund who was also responsible for directing the titles for Da Ali G Show.
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 Julian, in DreamWorks' family movie "Madagascar" (2005), and appeared as Will Ferrell's arch rival the French Formula 1 speed demon 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. During this speech, Ali G maintained his idiocy and hilarity, despite the venue, with continual references to one of the audience members as a female who had been featured in an adult movie that Ali G had watched in his hotel room the night before.
At the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, Borat introduced Gnarls Barkley's performance of 'Crazy,' where he made various crude sexist remarks about Jessica Simpson, 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, David Beckham and wife Victoria, for the benefit of the charity.
Baron Cohen will appear alongside Johnny Depp in the film "Sweeney Todd" as Signor Adolfo Pirelli.
Baron Cohen appeared out of character around the time of the launch of "Da Ali G Show" on HBO, in the United States, including appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". This appearance is often omitted or forgotten about, but is notable because he very rarely talks to any media outlets out of character and has become a household name now, but at that point he was almost completely unknown in the US.
Baron Cohen appeared out of character to present an award at the British Comedy Awards in December 2006. He said at that the time that Borat could not make it to the awards as 'he is at a conference in Iran at the moment,' referring to the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust. Baron Cohen also referred to that same Iranian conference as a 'holocaust denial conference', saying that Borat was the 'guest of honour' and jokingly describing it as a 'very important conference'.
Baron Cohen also appeared out of character as part of the New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend 2007. After the screening of "Borat" at the Imaginasian Theater in Manhattan, Baron Cohen graced the audience with his presence, a Q&A session, and a period for autograph signing.
Baron Cohen also appeared on the Suite life of Zack and Cody.
Controversies
Baron Cohen has encountered several controversies regarding some of his comic characters.
Two residents of Glod, the Romanian village in which the opening scenes of "Borat" were filmed, hired US attorney Edward Fagan to sue the makers of "Borat" for $30 million. They allege the intent of the film was misrepresented to them, that the poorest members of their village were made to look like 'savages', and that they were underpaid, particularly when their minute salaries were compared to the millions earned by the completed movie. The lawsuit was dismissed in a New York hearing on the grounds that the allegations were too vague to stand up in court.
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.'
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), replied: 'I'd like to state that I have no connection with Mr Cohen and fully support my government decision to 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.'
Baron Cohen encountered another problem around his Borat character. Two of the three University of South Carolina students who appear in "Borat" sued the filmmakers, alleging that they were duped into signing release forms while drunk, and that false promises were made that the footage was for a documentary that would never be screened in the USA. On 11 December 2006, a Los Angeles judge denied the pair a restraining order to remove them from the film. The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2007.
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 (such as TV2) emphasizing that a Kazakhstani news reporter hosted the awards, while others (such as Index.hu) noticed and pointed out the error.
TV, radio and magazine appearances
As a general rule, Baron Cohen rarely does 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 'his only interview as himself'. However, he recently 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 the product', 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.
Other 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 Award, 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
2007 - Won MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss alongside Will Ferrell in "Talledega Nights"
"Borat" awards and nominations
2006 - Won Los Angeles Films Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2006 - Won San Francisco Films Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
2006 - Winner Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2006 - Won Deutscher Comedypreis (German comedy award) for Best International Comedy
2007 - Won Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical and Nominated for Best Picture Comedy/Musical as well.
2007 - Nominated for London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
2007 - Nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (shared)
2007 - Won the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance
Miscellaneous
"Sports Illustrated"'s November 6 2006 issue contains a column called 'Skater vs. Instigator,' which illustrates various amusing 'parallels' between Sacha Baron Cohen and figure skater Sasha Cohen, ranging from their mutually held personal significance of the number 4 (... more) , to their mutual romantic interests in redheads.
Baron Cohen featured in the Time 100 list for 2007.
External links
(Borat: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of U.S. and A.)
(Sacha Baron Cohen audio interview with NPR's Robert Siegel)
(Sacha Baron Cohen audio interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross)
(Sacha Baron Cohen audio interview on Fresh Air March 30, 2007)
(Official Borat Homesite) (created after the original site, www.borat.kz, was taken down by the Association of Kazakh IT Companies due to backlash and resentment from Kazakhi government at Borat's misportrayal of their country)
(And Now for the World According to Borat and Sacha Baron Cohen)
(ThrowawayyourTV.com) Sacha Baron Cohen Video Archive
('Borat' Earns Glorious $26.4M in Debut)
http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/43496981]
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Sacha Baron Cohen.
