Bilal Baig
Bilal Baig is a Canadian writer and actor. They are best known for their play Acha Bacha and CBC series Sort Of.
Career
Acha Bacha, a play which centers on a Pakistani-Canadian person who is nonbinary, struggling to reconcile their gender with their Muslim upbringing, was staged in a joint production by Theatre Passe Muraille and Buddies in Bad Times in 2018, and presented at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace.Baig is the co-creator, a co-writer, and star of Sort Of, a CBC Television comedy series centering on a genderfluid character. Baig is the first queer South Asian Muslim actor to lead a Canadian primetime television series. The series premiered on CBC in 2021.
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 Canadian [Screen Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series|Best Actor in a Comedy Series] and Canadian [Screen Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series|Best Actress in a Comedy Series]. 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 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.
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.
Personal life
Baig was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada by Pakistani immigrant parents. Baig is queer, trans-feminine, and Muslim. 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."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.
Credits
Writing credits
Theatre
| Year | Title | Director | Theatre |
| 2018 | Acha Bacha | Brendan Healy | Theatre Passe Muraille |
| 2026 | Kainchee Lagaa | Tawiah M'carthy | Buddies in Bad Times |
| 2026 | Jhooti | Tawiah M'carthy | Buddies in Bad Times |