Bruce L. Cohen (born September 23, 1961) is a film, television, and theater producer.
Biography
Cohen was born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family and raised in
Falls Church, Virginia.
[The Jewish Journal: "Bruce Cohen: A career full of ‘Silver Linings’" by Naomi Pfefferman]
February 19, 2013 In 1983, he graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies. After school, he moved to Los Angeles where he accepted a clerical job as a
Directors Guild of America
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...
trainee on
Steven Spielberg's ''
The Color Purple
''The Color Purple'' is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. '',
and went on to serve as associate producer and first assistant director on Spielberg's ''
Hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
''. Cohen won the
Academy Award for Best Picture for producing ''
American Beauty''. He earned additional Best Picture nominations for ''
Milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...
'' and ''
Silver Linings Playbook
''Silver Linings Playbook'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O. Russell. The film was based on Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel '' The Silver Linings Playbook''. It stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Law ...
''. ''
American Beauty'', directed by
Sam Mendes, won a total of five Oscars, as well as the
Golden Globe,
British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA), and
Producers Guild of America
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing establishment w ...
(PGA) awards. ''Milk'', directed by
Gus Van Sant, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won Oscars for
Best Actor and
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
, as well as the PGA's
Stanley Kramer Award
The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard Stern, in order to honor ...
. ''
Silver Linings Playbook
''Silver Linings Playbook'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O. Russell. The film was based on Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel '' The Silver Linings Playbook''. It stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Law ...
'', written and directed by
David O. Russell
David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American filmmaker. His early directing career includes the comedy films ''Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), '' Flirting with Disaster'' (1996), ''Three Kings'' (1999), and ''I Heart Huckabees'' (200 ...
, was nominated for eight Oscars. It was the first film in 31 years to be nominated in all four acting categories, and
Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar in the
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
category.
Among the other films Cohen has produced is ''
Big Fish
''Big Fish'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Tim Burton, and based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Car ...
'', directed by
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...
, which was both a Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee for Best Picture. He is currently a lead producer of the stage musical version of ''
Big Fish
''Big Fish'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Tim Burton, and based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Car ...
'', now on Broadway at the
Neil Simon Theatre
The Neil Simon Theatre, originally the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 250 West 52nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for ...
, with direction and choreography by five-time Tony winner
Susan Stroman.
In television, Cohen was executive producer of the ABC series ''
Pushing Daisies
''Pushing Daisies'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC from October 3, 2007, to June 13, 2009. The series stars Lee Pace as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to li ...
'', which won a total of seven
Emmys
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
and was nominated for a Golden Globe as
Best Comedy. He was also executive producer of the CBS special ''Movies Rock'', and was nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for producing the
83rd Annual Academy Awards.
Cohen is on the Board of Governors of the
Producer's Guild, having served two terms as vice president of motion pictures, and is on the Executive Committee of the Producer's Branch of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
. He is president of the board of directors of the
American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the recently successful
Supreme Court case to have California's
Proposition 8
Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in cou ...
declared unconstitutional.
In 2019, Bruce Cohen joined the Advisory Board for the Harlem Film House, which presents the
Hip Hop Film Festival
The Hip Hop Film Festival is the first film festival in the world to focus on producers, directors and writers from the global culture of Hip Hop. The Hip Hop Film Festival was founded in 2015 by CR Capers, the CEO & Founder of the Harlem Film Ho ...
, an annual event that focuses on filmmakers from the global culture of hip hop and also promotes financial sustainability for independent filmmakers from marginalized or economically disadvantaged communities.
He is married to Gabriel Catone and they have a daughter.
Filmography
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
Film
;Second unit director or assistant director
;As an actor
;Thanks
Television
;Miscellaneous crew
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Bruce
Film producers from Virginia
20th-century American Jews
American entertainment industry businesspeople
LGBT Jews
LGBT people from Virginia
LGBT film producers
LGBT television producers
LGBT theatre managers and producers
Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award
HuffPost writers and columnists
Yale University alumni
Living people
People from Falls Church, Virginia
1961 births
Golden Globe Award-winning producers
Filmmakers who won the Best Film BAFTA Award
21st-century American Jews