Sacha Baron Cohen

Grammatically challenged homeboy Ali G. Roving Kazakh reporter Borat. Gay Austrian fashionista Brüno. These hilariously broad, gloriously un-PC characters are the brainchildren of Britain-born Jewish writer and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. A soft-spoken, surprisingly handsome man in real life, this Cambridge-educated satirist introduced his signature alter ego, Ali G, on the British comedy series The 11 O'Clock Show in 1998. A stunningly misinformed "hip-hop journalist," Ali G conducted riotously inane interviews with unsuspecting public figures who believed they were talking to a real person. The gimmick proved so popular that Cohen earned his own series in England, Da Ali G Show, in 2000, and launched an American incarnation of the show on HBO in 2003, where his victims included everyone from Newt Gingrich to Ralph Nader, Andy Rooney to Gore Vidal. (In between, he also starred in the formulaic feature Ali G Indahouse, which managed to squander his unique talents.) Cohen also introduced two other "journalists," Brüno and Borat, on these series. While Brüno's primary function seemed to be to make homophobes squirm, Borat managed to upset a number of different groups. Although Cohen caught some flak for Ali G — critics claimed the character was racist because he was a white boy acting "black" — Borat angered entire nations. The government of Kazakhstan, Borat's homeland, publicly objected to his character: a mustachioed misogynist and anti-Semite who liked to lead Americans in rousing choruses of "Throw the Jew Down the Well." That stunt also incurred the wrath of Jews, who accused Cohen of promoting anti-Semitism, even though he was in fact a member of the tribe. And in 2005, under the guise of shooting a documentary, Cohen as Borat almost caused a riot when he said to the audience at a Virginia rodeo, "May George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq," followed by a butchered rendition of the American national anthem. But Cohen's fans adored his in-character shenanigans. Indeed, Cohen often refused to appear as himself, preferring to travel the talk-show circuit as one of his alter egos, even hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005 as Borat. In 2006, Cohen became a bona fide film star, winning a Golden Globe for his turn as Borat on the big screen in the smash hit Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. His screenplay for the film was also honored with an Oscar nod.