Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen was born on 13 October 1971 and grew up in Hampstead Garden Suburb, in north west London.
Sacha Baron Cohen, like fellow comedian Matt Lucas, went to Haberdashers' Aske's school and then studied history at Christ's College, Cambridge.
After University, Sacha Baron Cohen helped set up a comedy club on the London circuit and also performed stand-up.
One of Baron Cohen's earliest TV appearances was performing shorts on Paramount TV in the UK, where he displayed nerves of steel as he, with a straight-face, approached important fashion designers asking strange questions as Bruno, a camp TV reporter from Austria.
However, his major breakthrough came with the Ali G character, which flourished on Channel Four's The 11 O'Clock Show, which also featured Ricky Gervais.
The popularity of Ali G led to not only his own spin-off show, Da Ali G Show, but also to the character Ali G delivering The Alternative Christmas Message on Channel Four in 1999.
Like Sacha Baron Cohen's other famous character Borat, the TV reporter from Kazakhstan, Ali G had huge success in the USA.
Unlike Borat, however, the film Ali G Indahouse was released in the UK in 2002, but not in the States.
On the other hand, Borat: Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was a major box office success in the USA, even taking the number one spot for a while.
In October 2007, Sacha Baron Cohen and his fiancée, the actress Isla Fisher, had a baby girl.
Such was Sacha Baron Cohen's success that he was featured in the Time 100 in 2007.