Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher donate $1 million for Syrian refugees

Comic movie stars Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher aren't kidding around when it comes to philanthropy: The British-Australian couple have donated $1 million to two major charities to help Syrian refugees.

Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee announced Sunday that Cohen (who played the exceedingly obnoxious Kazakhstan journalist Borat in the movies and on British TV) and Fisher (who was arresting in Arrested Development on TV and in Wedding Crashers in the movies), said the couple's donation could go a long way in helping some of the millions of refugees made homeless inside and outside Syria as a result of the especially vicious civil war raging there.

The charity organizations said half the money donated will be used to fund vaccinations for more than 250,000 children against a potential measles outbreak in Northern Syria. The other half will be used to help support families inside Syria and in neighboring countries with education, health care, shelter and sanitation.

"By allowing us to make their generous donation to Syrian children public, Sacha and Isla are helping highlight the tragedy of the issue today," said Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, in a statement. "These are desperate times for Syrian families facing bombs, bullets and torture in Syria. The couple’s donation will save many thousands of lives and protect some of the most vulnerable children."

David Miliband, CEO of the IRC (and former Labour Party politician) said in his statement that "Sacha and Isla's donation is a great expression of humanity, and a challenge to do more for the most vulnerable. I hope it is an example to many others seeking practical ways of making a difference during the Christmas and New Year season."

Cohen is best known for his satirical antics as the Borat character and for other bonkers characters he's played in the movies (he dumped an urn of ashes on Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Oscars in 2012 to promote his then new movie, The Dictator). He has said he uses his alter-ego characters as satiric tools to expose prejudice and ignorance, but his methods have sparked criticism nevertheless.

But lately he's been winning kiddie fans as the voice of the endearingly wacky King Julien of the Lemurs in the three Madagascar movies.  Fisher has starred in Confessions of a Shopaholic and in The Great Gatsby.

The two met at a party in Australia in 2002, and married in 2010 in Paris. They have three children, two girls and a son, the youngest, born in March.