<p>He also was nominated for another statuette for his work in a more serious role, as US political activist Abbie Hoffman in "The Trial of the Chicago 7".</p><p>The characters created by the versatile 49-year-old British comedian are a world away from his upbringing in London as the son of an accountant who ran a family business of clothing stores.</p><p>After attending private schools, he studied history at the University of Cambridge, where his cousin, Simon, is a professor and prominent researcher into autism.</p><p>During his time at university, Baron Cohen joined the Footlights theatre group that launched stars such as Hugh Laurie and members of Monty Python.</p><p>His big break came performing sketches on the Paramount Comedy Channel, where he developed the character Ali G -- a wannabe gangsta rapper from a nondescript town west of London.</p><p>"Da Ali G Show", which followed on Britain's Channel Four in 2000, saw him ask increasingly shocking questions of unsuspecting politicians and other establishment figures.</p><p>The show also featured Borat, a naive Kazakh visitor to Britain who displays unthinking homophobia, anti-Semitism and sexism, and Bruno, a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista.</p><p>The show made Baron Cohen a household name. Later series were aired on HBO in the United States.</p><p>Prince William even revealed that he and brother Harry taught their great-grandmother, the Queen Mum, to imitate Ali G by clicking her fingers and saying his classic "Respec'".</p><p>One interviewee was Donald Trump, who said last year of Baron Cohen: "That's a phony guy. And I don't find him funny."</p><p>- Cannes mankini -</p><p>Ali G got his own film -- "Ali G Indahouse" (2002) -- as did Borat (2006), and later Bruno (2009).</p><p>To promote "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan", he posed on the beach at the Cannes film festival in a green mankini that left little to the imagination.</p><p>Along with an infamous nude fight scene, it showed Borat in cringe-making encounters with ordinary Americans.</p><p>At a rodeo, he called for then-president George W. Bush to "drink the blood of every single man, woman and child of Iraq", to cheers from the crowd.</p><p>The New York Times said the film's comedy was "as pitiless as its social satire, and as brainy". It topped box offices in Britain and the United States.</p><p>Baron Cohen, who is Jewish and uses Hebrew for Borat, won a Golden Globe for best actor, and the film grossed more than $260 million worldwide.</p><p>But the depiction of Kazakhstan as backward infuriated the Central Asian state, which banned the film's release.</p><p>Baron Cohen told Rolling Stone magazine the joke was "on people who can believe that the Kazakhstan that I describe can exist".</p><p>Kazakhstan relented and last year even used Borat's "Very nice!" catchphrase in a tourism campaign.</p><p>'Never again' -</p><p>The follow-up, "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm", unfurls against the tense backdrop of Trump's re-election campaign and the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>In one scene at a gun rights rally, Baron Cohen -- disguised as a bluegrass singer -- encouraged people to sing along to lyrics about injecting former president Barack Obama and others with the "Wuhan flu".</p><p>He ended up fleeing when his cover was blown.</p><p>"We were surrounded by a bunch of people, an angry mob with guns," he told NPR, and vowed not to work undercover again.</p><p>"I can't do this again... at some point, your luck runs out."</p><p>The film also shows Trump's lawyer and ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani apparently reaching into his trousers in a hotel room, after being interviewed by Borat's daughter (Maria Bakalova).</p><p>Giuliani, oblivious to the hidden cameras, insisted he was tucking in his shirt.</p><p>On Sunday night at the Globes, Baron Cohen launched a few zingers about Giuliani, saying: "I mean, who can get more laughs out of one unzipping?"</p><p>He told NPR he revived Borat in a bid to somehow influence the 2020 presidential election -- against Trump.</p><p>"We felt we had to do something, we felt democracy was in real danger," he said.</p><p>The film was released on Amazon Prime Video last year. In addition to the two awards it won, Bakalova was also nominated.</p><p>- 'Weapons-grade offensiveness' -</p><p>In 2018, he was nominated for a Golden Globe as best actor for his US satirical series "Who is America?"</p><p>Baron Cohen, whose 2012 film "The Dictator" was described as offering "weapons-grade offensiveness", has also acted in non-comedy films including "Les Miserables".</p><p>In 2019 he was nominated for best actor at the Golden Globes for playing a top Mossad agent in the Netflix series "The Spy."</p><p>Baron Cohen rarely gives interviews out of character and is reticent about his personal life.</p><p>"Some people love being recognized and getting the attention. I don't love it," he told NPR.</p><p>He is married to actress Isla Fisher. The couple have said they bonded over studying at clown school. They have three children.</p><p>In 2015, the couple donated $1 million to help Syrian refugees.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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