Bilal Baig

Bilal Baig is a Canadian writer and actor. They are best known for their play Acha Bacha and CBC series Sort Of (2021–2023).^[3]

Bilal Baig
Born	1995 (age 29–30)[1] Scarborough, Ontario, Canada[2]

Early life

Baig was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.^[2]

Career

Acha Bacha, a play which centers on a non-binary Pakistani-Canadian person 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]

Theatre credits

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Director(s)	Ref.
2018	Acha Bacha	Playwright	Theatre Passe Muraille	Brendan Healy	[12]
2026	Kainchee Lagaa	Playwright	Buddies in Bad Times	Tawiah M'carthy	[11]
	Jhooti

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021–2023	Sort Of	Sabi Mehboob	Lead/Creator

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2022	Gotham Independent Film Awards	Outstanding Performance in a New Series		Nominated	[13][14]
	Peabody Awards	Entertainment	Sort Of	Nominated	[15]
	10th Canadian Screen Awards	Best Writing, Comedy	Bilal Baig, Fab Filippo	Won	[16]
2023	11th Canadian Screen Awards	Best Lead Performer, Comedy	Bilal Baig	Won	[17]
		Best Writing, Comedy	Bilal Baig, Fab Filippo	Won	[18]