Sacha Baron Cohen — actor with roots in the Russian Empire
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen was born in Hammersmith, London, on 13 October 1971, the youngest of three sons in a Jewish family. His connection to the Russian Empire runs through his father's side and is documented only in outline.
His father, Gerald "Jerry" Baron Cohen (1932-2016), an editor who later ran a clothing shop, was born in London into a Belarusian Ashkenazi Jewish family and grew up in the Welsh town of Pontypridd. Published sources name neither the town in Belarus the family came from nor the generation that emigrated. His paternal grandfather, Morris Moses Cohen, added "Baron" to the surname; the autism researcher Sir Simon Baron-Cohen is a cousin.
His mother's side is not Russian. Daniella Weiser, a photographer, was born in British Mandatory Palestine in 1939. Her mother, Liesel, née Levi, had trained as a ballet dancer in Germany before leaving in 1936, and later lived in Haifa. The family's link to the Empire is therefore paternal, and the maternal line is German-Jewish.
He studied history at the University of Cambridge. Television made him known first: the character Ali G, and with him the Kazakh reporter Borat and the Austrian fashion reporter Bruno, all appeared on Da Ali G Show, and in 2001 both the show and Baron Cohen won BAFTA Awards. The film Borat (2006) won him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and an Academy Award nomination for its adapted screenplay. Bruno (2009) and The Dictator (2012) followed, alongside dramatic and musical roles in Sweeney Todd (2007), Hugo (2011) and Les Miserables (2012).
In 2019 he played the Israeli agent Eli Cohen in the limited series The Spy. In 2020 he returned to Borat in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which brought a second Golden Globe for Best Actor, a Golden Globe for the film, which he produced, and a second screenplay nomination at the Academy Awards. The same season he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for playing Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7.
At the 2012 British Comedy Awards he received the Outstanding Achievement Award, which he accepted in character as Ali G.
"Father Gerald Baron Cohen was born in London in 1932 into a Belarusian Ashkenazi Jewish family; the town of origin and the emigrating generation are not documented."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Belarus (town not documented)
His father, Gerald Baron Cohen (1932-2016), was born in London into a Belarusian Ashkenazi Jewish family and grew up in Pontypridd, Wales. Published sources name neither the town nor the generation that emigrated. His mother's family was German-Jewish.
Paternal family Belarusian Ashkenazi Jewish (town not documented); grandfather Morris Moses Cohen added 'Baron' to the surname. Maternal line German-Jewish: grandmother Liesel (nee Levi) left Germany in 1936 and lived in Haifa.
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Belarus (town not documented). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.