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[[caption-width-right:300:[[Film/{{Borat}} Is nice!]]]]

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor, clown[[note]]the classic variety; he trained under Philippe Gaulier, a renowned master clown and theatre professor[[/note]], and [[TheGadfly gadfly]] extraordinaire best known for his fictional personas (including British gangsta-wannabe Ali G, racist and backward Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev, gay Austrian fashonista Brüno Gehard, and the Gaddafi-like Arab dictator Admiral General Aladeen), which are [[BlackLikeMe generally used]] [[{{Troll}} to provoke reactions]] [[PoesLaw from people who don't know they're fictional]] so as to expose their own bigotry and for ''really'' dark BlackComedy.

The effectiveness of his comedy can be attributed to elements including his total commitment to his characters (such that he almost ''never'' breaks character) and his incredibly sharp improv skills. These elements combine to give his unsuspecting interview subjects the impression that they're sitting down with a real, and really stupid, person; sometimes, they may even mock him and joke at his expense, [[ObfuscatingStupidity unaware that the joke is really on them]]. If Creator/PeterSellers and Creator/AndyKaufman had a child, he would be it.[[note]]In fact, Baron Cohen credited Sellers as his greatest comedic influence; he also grew up a fan of Creator/MontyPython and Creator/PeterCook.[[/note]]

As his mainstream profile's grown, Baron Cohen has branched out into more traditional acting roles, showing that he has the chops to handle serious drama with nuance.

From 2010 to 2023, he was married to Creator/IslaFisher, with whom he had three children. He's also the younger brother of musician Erran Baron Cohen, with whom he frequently collaborates, as well as the cousin of neuroscientist Simon Baron Cohen.
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!!Works featuring Sacha Baron Cohen's characters include:
* ''Series/DaAliGShow'' - Ali G / Borat / Brüno
** ''Film/AliGIndahouse'' - [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Ali G]] / Borat
* ''Film/{{Borat}}'' - [[{{Ruritania}} Borat]]
** ''Film/BoratSubsequentMoviefilm''
* ''[[Film/Bruno2009 Brüno]]'' - [[CampGay Brüno]]
* ''Film/TheDictator'' - [[TheGeneralissimo Admiral]] [[PresidentForLife General]] [[{{Qurac}} Aladeen]]
* ''Film/{{Grimsby}}'' - Nobby Butcher
* ''Series/WhoIsAmerica'' - Erran / Billy / Nira / Rick / OMG Whizzy / Gio

!!Other works in which Sacha Baron Cohen has appeared include:
* ''Franchise/{{Madagascar}}'' series, as King Julien[[note]]Only the original trilogy. In all of the spinoff material (both the ''Penguins of Madagascar'' [[WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar TV series]] and [[WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar movie]], ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien''), [[TheOtherDarrin he's played by]] Creator/DannyJacobs.[[/note]]
* ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', as Signor Adolfo Pirelli [[spoiler: (real name Davy Collins)]]
* ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby,'' as [[TheRival Jean Girard]].
* ''Film/{{Hugo}}'' as the Station Inspector
* ''Film/LesMiserables2012'' as Monsieur Thenardier
* ''Film/Anchorman2TheLegendContinues'' as the leader of the BBC News Service
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' as Jakob
* ''Film/AliceThroughTheLookingGlass'' as Time
* ''Series/TheSpy'' as Eli Cohen
* ''Film/TheTrialOfTheChicago7'' as Abbie Hoffman
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Luca}}'' as Uncle Ugo
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%% Note that his family name is "Baron Cohen", not just "Cohen".
%%

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!!Tropes related to Baron Cohen and his films:

* ManOfAThousandFaces: His specialty lies in radically altering his personality, mannerisms, and physical appearance, for each of the characters he portrays, often assisted by pounds of prosthetic makeup, so as to be totally unrecognizable by any unsuspecting marks.
* ManOfAThousandVoices: Another of his trademarks. This guy can do ''any'' accent, which is helpful in playing a variety of characters all of different ethnicities.
* NWordPrivileges: The only way that Sacha could ever get away with a character like Borat, singing a song called "Throw the Jew Down the Well...", is if he were actually Jewish in real life.
* ReclusiveArtist: A necessity if you want to mess with total strangers and not have them recognize you.
* StarMakingRole: Borat. Prior to that, he was known to moviegoers for his role as Jean Girard in ''[[Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby Talladega Nights]]'' after breaking out on TV with ''Series/DaAliGShow''. On the voice-acting side, his role as King Julien in ''Franchise/{{Madagascar}}'' was a big part in the series' success.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: His comedy style largely consists of trolling people in a very jerkass way. Not only have people tried to arrest him, but more than one person has physically assaulted him. Seriously, act obnoxious in public and see how quickly people get violent.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: Well, "snarky" in the "[[StealthParody saying ridiculous things]] [[PoesLaw and getting people to take them completely seriously]]" sense. Baron Cohen stands an impressive 6'3" (1.91 m), and frequently makes use of his substantial height to make his already cartoonish characters seem that much more larger-than-life, pun not intended.
** He was very snarky in his Anti-Defamation League speech.
* {{Troll}}: Famously. Virtually all his characters are outrageous caricatures meant to make fun of real people by either pushing their buttons or playing into their own biases, usually both at the same time.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Most of his characters are this by default, in order to make the trolling work. Often they are an outright VillainProtagonist.
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