Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen (birthname: Sacha Noam Baron Cohen) has staked out a unique position in the show business universe as a master of creating thoroughly convincing albeit satirical characters (which originally appeared on the British late-night comedy show, The 11 O’Clock Show (1998-1999) and Cohen’s own TV show, Da Ali G Show (2000-2004)) such as Ali G. and Borat, which he has parlayed into several successful feature films, while also creating a separate track as an accomplished Oscar-nominated actor in comedies and drama, starting as actor only in director/writer Chris Payne’s British satire, The Jolly Boys’ Last Stand (2000), with Andy Serkis and Milo Twomey, and released by Spirit Level. Baron Cohen was star/writer/executive producer of his first Ali G movie, Ali G Indahouse (2002), with Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Kellie Bright and Martin Freeman, co-written by Dan Mazuer (who was also a producer), backed (in part) by Working Title Films and grossing over $20 million for Universal Pictures.
Baron Cohen’s first voice performance in an animated feature was as a kingly lemur in co-directors/co-writers Eric Darnell’s and Tom McGrath’s DreamWorks Animation original, Madagascar (2005), with the voice cast of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Cedric the Entertainer and Andy Richter, and then Cohen returned in Darnell’s and McGrath’s sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), with new voice castmates Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherri Shepherd and will.i.am, and grossing a cumulative $1.16 billion for Paramount Pictures. Baron Cohen delivered his first live-action character role in a Hollywood movie in director/co-writer Adam McKay’s racecar comedy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), co-written and starring Will Ferrell, with John C. Reilly, Gary Cole, Michael Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb, Jane Lynch and Amy Adams, produced (in part) by Judd Apatow and Columbia Pictures, and delivering a $163.4 million gross for Sony Pictures Releasing.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s breakthrough as star/co-writer/producer (as well as his first Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay) arrived next with his acclaimed mockumentary about a clueless Kazakh journalist visiting America, Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), produced (in part) by Jay Roach, and grossing over 15 times estimated costs for 20th Century Fox with $262.6 million globally. Baron Cohen joined director Tim Burton for his feature version of Stephen Sondheim’s and Hugh Wheeler’s musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), written by John Logan (who was also a lead producer), co-starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, also produced by DreamWorks Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures/Parkes-MacDonald Productions/The Zanuck Company, and earning three times estimated costs with a $153 million gross for Paramount Pictures (North America)/Warner Bros. Pictures (International)
Sacha Baron Cohen reunited with director Larry Charles for another of his created character mockumentaries as star/writer/producer of Brüno (2009), produced (in part) by co-writer Dan Mazur and Jay Roach, and earning over three times estimated costs with a solid $139 million global take for Universal Pictures. Baron Cohen co-starred in director/producer Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning adventure tale, Hugo (2011), adapted by John Logan from Brian Selznick’s 2007 book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, starring Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer and Jude Law, produced (in part) by Johnny Depp, launching at the New York Film Festival and released by Paramount Pictures to a disappointing $186 million (based on estimated costs).
Baron Cohen continued his series of satirical mockumentaries with director Larry Charles as star/writer/producer of The Dictator (2012), co-written and produced by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer, with Ben Kingsley and Anna Faris, produced (in part) by Scott Rudin Productions and grossing a robust $190 million worldwide for Paramount Pictures (based on estimated costs). Baron Cohen performed a supporting role in his second big-screen musical, the Oscar-winning Tom Hooper-directed Les Misérables (2012), adapted for the screen by the musical’s creators Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil as well as William Nicholson and Herbert Kretzmer, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Helena Bonham Carter, produced (in part) by Relativity Media, Working Title Films and the original stage producer Cameron Mackintosh, and earning over seven times estimated costs ($442.8 million) for Universal Pictures.
Sacha Baron Cohen had his first commercial dud as star/writer/producer of the spy comedy, Grimsby (2016), with Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Gabourey Sibide and Penelope Cruz under Louis Leterrier’s direction, produced (in part) by Columbia Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures/Working Title Films, and earning only $28 million (based on estimated costs). Baron Cohen reunited with Tim Burton (this time, producer only) for the Disney sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), starring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall under James Bobin’s direction, written by Linda Woolverton, produced (in part) by Joe Roth, and which earned $300 million.
Baron Cohen was an associate producer and earned his first acting Oscar nomination as best supporting actor (portraying Abbie Hoffman) in director/writer Aaron Sorkin’s legal drama, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Daniel Flaherty, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance and Jeremy Strong, produced (in part) by Paramount Pictures/Cross Creek Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures/Marc Platt Productions, distributed theatrically and on streaming by Netflix, and subsequently nominated for six Oscars (including Best Picture). Baron Cohen earned his third Oscar nomination (for best adapted screenplay)—and his second nomination for two different movies in the same year--for his return as Borat in Amazon Prime Video’s streamed Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), directed by Jason Woliner, and then Cohen delivered a voice performance in his first Disney-Pixar production, Luca (2021), starring Jacob Tremblay, directed by Enrico Casarosa, nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar and released on streaming in the U.S. on Disney+ but distributed theatrically by Disney worldwide outside the U.S. for a $51 million return.
Sasha Baron Cohen was for the first time star/director/writer of a feature film in the revival of his Ali G. character, Ali G.: Who Iz I? (2026), co-written by Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Swimer, Dan Mazer, Keisha Zollar, Colton Dunn and Vernon Chatman, produced by Cohen’s own Four by Two Films and Working Title Films, and released wide by Amazon MGM Studios via Sony Pictures Releasing International.
Known For
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Borat Sagdiyev (2020)
Brüno
Brüno (2009)
Sacha Baron Cohen Movies
Actor
Previous (11)
- 2021 |
- 2016 |
Alice Through the Looking Glass
asTime
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Alice is appointed to save her beloved Mad Hatter from deadly grief by travelling back to the past, but this means fatally harming Time himself, the noble clockwork man with the device needed to save the Hatter's family from the Red Queen.
- 2016 |
The Brothers Grimsby
asNobby
A new assignment forces a top spy to team up with his football hooligan brother.
- 2012 |
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
asJulien
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
The Madagascar animals join a struggling European circus to get back to New York, but find themselves being pursued by a psychotic animal-control officer.
- 2012 |
The Dictator
asAladeen
The heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
- 2012 |
Les Misérables
asThénardier
In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who, for decades, has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after breaking parole, agrees to care for a factory worker's daughter. The decision changes their lives forever.
- 2011 |
- 2008 |
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
asJulien
The Madagascar animals fly back to New York City, but crash-land on an African nature reserve in Kenya, where they meet others of their own kind, and Alex especially discovers his royal heritage as prince of a lion pride.
- 2006 |
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
asJean Girard
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Number one NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby stays atop the heap thanks to a pact with his best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton, Jr. But when a French Formula One driver, makes his way up the ladder, Ricky Bobby's talent and devotion are put to the test.
- 2006 |
- 2005 |
Madagascar
asJulien
A group of animals who have spent all their life in a New York zoo end up in the jungles of Madagascar, and must adjust to living in the wild.
Producer
Previous (2)
- 2016 |
The Brothers Grimsby
A new assignment forces a top spy to team up with his football hooligan brother.
- 2012 |
The Dictator
The heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
Writer
Previous (2)
- 2016 |
The Brothers Grimsby
A new assignment forces a top spy to team up with his football hooligan brother.
- 2012 |
The Dictator
The heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
People Also Searched For
