Born in London to a religious Jewish family, Sacha Baron Cohen was eager to immerse himself into Israeli society during a gap-year program with the Zionist youth group Habonim Dror.

He spent his first year out of high school volunteering at Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, the farthest point north on Israel’s Mediterranean coastline, and Kibbutz Beit HaEmek.

A friend who attended a seminar with him in Israel remembered that: “He was really very nerdy, he didn’t hang out with the girls, but we were literally crying from laughter because he was so funny. I remember thinking how talented he was, and very, very smart, a genius, really.”

Cohen’s maternal grandmother lived in Bat Yam and he came in 2014 for her funeral.

Photo: Reuters