Watch Sacha Baron Cohen Online

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 before he attended Christ's College, Cambridge where he read 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.[11]

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).[citation needed]

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.

Baron Cohen frequently speaks in Hebrew and Polish while playing the anti-Semitic character Borat. He also sang the lyrics from an old Hebrew folk song in an episode of Da Ali G Show. Additionally he identifies his country's greatest scientist, who he says discovered a woman's brain is the same size as that of a squirrel, as "Dr Yarmulke". (A yarmulke, or kippah, is the skullcap worn by Jews.)

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 October 19, 2007 Isla gave birth to a baby girl named Olive in Los Angeles, California.

The couple reside in Los Angeles and London.

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 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. He also presented the Teenage program F2F.

Baron Cohen as Ali G, offering a speech at Harvard University's Class Day during Commencement ceremonies Baron Cohen as Ali G, offering a speech at Harvard University's Class Day during Commencement ceremonies

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 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".

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.