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Bilal Baig
Canadian writer and actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bilal Baig (born 1995[2]) is a Canadian writer and actor. They are best known for their play Acha Bacha and CBC series Sort Of (2021–2023).[3]
Career
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Acha Bacha, a play which centers on a Pakistani-Canadian person who is nonbinary, struggling to reconcile their gender with their Muslim upbringing,[4] was staged in a joint production by Theatre Passe Muraille and Buddies in Bad Times in 2018, and presented at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace.[5][6]
Baig is the co-creator, a co-writer, and star of Sort Of, a CBC Television comedy series centering on a genderfluid character.[3] Baig is the first queer South Asian Muslim actor to lead a Canadian primetime television series.[7] The series premiered on CBC in 2021.[7]
Sort Of was the top winner overall in television categories at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022 and Baig shared the award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series with writing partner Fab Filippo. Baig had declined to submit their performance for 2022 award consideration due to the gendered categories of Best Actor in a Comedy Series and Best Actress in a Comedy Series.[8] Subsequently, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television announced that beginning with the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, gender-neutral awards for Best Performance will be presented instead of gendered actor and actress categories[9] Baig was the winner of the inaugural Canadian Screen Award for Best Leading Performance in a Comedy Series at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, in addition to their second award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series, again shared with Fab Fillipo.[10]
In June 2025 the Toronto theatre company Buddies in Bad Times announced the production of Begging Brown Bitch Plays, a show consisting of Baig's one-act plays Kainchee Lagaa and Jhooti, for the 2025-26 season.[11]
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Personal life
Baig was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada by Pakistani immigrant parents.[1][12] Baig is queer, trans-feminine, and Muslim.[13][14] They do not have a close relationship with their parents and only revealed their identity and career to them through email a week before the premiere of Sort Of. Though their parents' reactions were more positive than expected, Baig found it upsetting, stating "No one was really trying to make a deep connection."[12]
Baig mentors emerging queer and trans writers, particularly young women and transfeminine people of colour, and holds writing workshops for youth in underserved Toronto communities. Baig also leads anti-Islamophobia workshops for high schools and founded an online platform for queer and trans South Asians to connect.[13][12]
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Credits
Writing credits
Television
Theatre
Acting credits
Television
Accolades
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References
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