The eccentric roles of Sacha Baron Cohen

Writer: Casey Lee

Ali G, a.k.a Borat, a.k.a Bruno, a.k.a The Dictator.

Mention Sacha Baron Cohen, and you probably would remember him as either Ali G, Borat or Bruno. This British-Jewish comedian has been known to a generation for being the center of controversies, stirred from the satirical jokes and parodies in the eyes of one of his alter-egos on the post-modern issues of today's society, that has garnered just as much laughs for his bawdy display of satire at its finest.

The trained 'clown' first started off as a TV presenter for several British programmes, when a slot opening at one of the channels gave him the platform to experiment with his fictional characters that has since removed him from obscure anonymity forever. Very few actors have ever fully embrace being in-character in public as much as Cohen, and each of his appearances have not caused any less trouble wherever he went.

As a lead-up to his latest appearance as Admiral General Hafez Aladeen in "The Dictator", we take a look at some of his best-known (and not so well known) roles that has ever been played by Sacha Baron Cohen.

Ali G

Cohen first started portraying himself as a privileged urban white rapper when he was presenting for a British youth chat show in 1996. That character soon became the basis for Ali G and was said to be inspired by another white radio DJ host that spoke in the hip-hop dialect.

Ali G was the breakout alter-ego of Cohen, who first appeared as a short skit in the Eleven O'Clock show of Britain's Channel 4. The role became so popular that his two-minute skit, expanded into his own show "Da Ali G Show" where he interview and embarrassed various big names from politics, space travel, footballers, NBA players, and even porn stars. "Da Ali G Show" was later shot in the US, where American mogul Donald Trump had even walked out from one such interview just after a minute into it.

Ali G soon appeared in his own feature film "Ali G Indahouse", where he becomes an elected representative in the British Parliament and tries to save a community centre in his 'hometown' of Staines, England from being demolished.

Borat Sagdiyev

Before Ali G, Cohen had already been experimenting with different fictional characters. In 1995, Britain's Channel 4 had an open slot for a new TV presenter when they had axed a series. Cohen sent in a tape of himself as Kristo, a fake identity of himself as a reporter and got the job.

Following the success of Ali G, Kristo would become the inspiration that would bring to life Cohen's biggest success to date as Borat Sagdiyev, the Kazakh. In the mockumentary "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan", Borat travels across the United States in an ice-cream truck, publicly looking to learn more about American culture, and secretly wanting to find and marry Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.

In the course of his travels, he parodies the national anthem of Kazakhstan, goes on a nude brawl into a packed ballroom, incites a riot at a dinner party by bringing along a prostitute (whom he brings back home to Kazakhstan) and makes a slew of remarks against Jews, gay and lesbian activists, and charismatic Christians.

"Borat" became a phenomenal success for critics and casuals alike, and an embarrassment for Kuwait when they wrongly played the parodied anthem during the award ceremony of the Kuwait International Shooting Grand Prix, won by a team from Kazakhstan.

Bruno

Bruno, the gay Austrian fashion reporter, was a character that Cohen had played briefly before he started "Da Ali G Show", but became his third persona when Universal obtained the rights to make a film out of Bruno with a bid of US$42.5 million.

In "Bruno" that was released in 2009, Cohen played Bruno, who had lost his own television show after he caused a commotion at a fashion catwalk. Determined to be as big a fashion icon as Adolf Hitler (exactly), Bruno sets out to make a name for himself in the United States. From there, he would go on harassing celebrities such as Paula Abdul (who claims to have been scarred by an incident in the film), Harrison Ford, and presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Bruno was notoriously known for the prank he pulled at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards when he fell onto rap-singer Eminem from a rigged wire while exposing his rear bottom in front of the singer's face.

King Julien XIII

Outside of his abrasive alter-egos, Cohen also had children-friendly roles in mainstream Hollywood movies. One of them is the voice of King Julien XIII from the "Madagascar" series that Cohen has been doing it since its first iteration and until most recently in "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted".

Almost like his "The Dictator" counterpart, King Julien acts more as a flamboyant tyrant to his subjects of lemurs on the jungle island of Madagascar and rules through the power of 'delegation'. He was first introduced when Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo landed on their territory, and manipulated them to have Alex remove the threat of the Fossa.

Voiced with an Indian-like accent, King Julien would later follow the escapees of Central Park Zoo on their adventures as they head back to New York in "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" and the third instalment, getting caught up in his own antics with his advisor Maurice and the adorable Mort.

Inspector Gustave

Cohen actually made his debut appearance on film in a minor role for an Andy Serkis movie titled "The Jolly Boys' Last Stand", and has made several performances as a fictional character other than his own.

In Martin Scorsese's well-acclaimed adaptation "Hugo", Cohen plays as Inspector Gustave, a menace who lurks in the train station where the orphan Hugo lives and works to maintain the clocks of the station.

Although in the movie Inspector Gustave was shown to be the kind of character that appeared in stories to scare children, he has a sad side to his story of being a disabled post-war survivor and eventually saves Hugo from being overrun by a train.