Bern Cohen (New York City, 1949)Mandy Actors
is an American actor and educator. He spent many years in the New York City education system before returning to acting in 2005.

Early years

Cohen grew up in New York's Al Smith Projects on South Street in

Chinatown, Manhattan Manhattan's Chinatown is a Neighborhoods in Manhattan, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy, Manhattan, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center, Manhattan, Civic Center to its s ...

. After attending

Valley Stream South High School Valley Stream South High School (also known as South High School and abbreviated as VSSHS) is a combined public junior and senior high school located in the hamlet of South Valley Stream in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in ...

, he attended

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York, United States. Adelphi also has centers in Downtown Brooklyn, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County in addition to a virtual, online campus for remote students. As of 2019, it had ...

on full

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

and started his New York professional acting career while still in college.

Career in education

By age 26, Cohen decided to leave acting in favor of a more involved role in parenting his two children. He went into education and was a fourth-grade teacher before teaching secondary Remedial Reading and becoming an administrator. He earned two

graduate degree Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor ...

s in education administration and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

. Cohen led seven group trips to the

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

and wrote three college textbooks in the fields of

bilingual education In bilingual education, students are taught in two (or more) languages. It is distinct from learning a second language as a subject because both languages are used for instruction in different content areas like math, science, and history. The t ...

, school evaluation, and

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in th ...

. He was President of BCR&D, a large private

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

group that specialized in assessing public education programs. In New York City, he was a District Director of Instruction in two school districts and eventually served in that capacity for the entire New York City school system. He was assigned to take over and lead several low-achieving New York schools and became known for his ability to turn failing schools into successful schools with demanding academic models and supportive behavior remediation.

Acting career

Cohen took early retirement from his academic career to return to acting studies with Penny Templeton and Ruth Nerkin, and rejoined the New York acting corps. He is a member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, Equity, and

AFTRA The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording ...

. He created the role of Morris Bober in the first stage adaptation of

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...

's '' The Assistant'' at New York's Turtle Shell Theater. He appeared in several other

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

shows and 15 films since retiring as a high school principal in 2005. Cohen played Rebbe Horowitz in the 2010

Sundance Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acte ...

selection, '' Holy Rollers''. His other principal film roles include '' Tickling Leo'' with

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach ( ; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. Known for his character actor roles, his entertainment career spanned over six decades. He received a British Aca ...

, ''

27 Dresses ''27 Dresses'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Aline Brosh McKenna, and starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. The film was released in the United States on January 18, 2008. It received mixed re ...

'' with

Katherine Heigl Katherine Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and model. She portrayed Izzie Stevens, Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role that b ...

, ''Fallen Star'' (formerly ''

Goyband ''Goyband'' or ''Falling Star'' is a 2008 American independent comedy film directed by Christopher Grimm, starring Adam Pascal. The film premiered at the 2008 Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. Plot Fading from the spotlight of his late 1990s meg ...

'') with

Tovah Feldshuh Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh (born December 27, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for fifty years, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations for ''Holoca ...

, and '' Brooklyn Rules'' with

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...

Filmography

*2018: '' To Dust'' as Reb Goshen *2016: ''

Shooting Clerks ''Shooting Clerks'' is a British-American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Christopher Downie and starring Brian O'Halloran, Mark Frost, Jason Mewes, Scott Schiaffo, Matthew Postlethwaite and Kevin Smith. It was produced by Auld Reekie ...

'' as Thomas Burke *2016: ''Brooklyn Tide'' as Mr. Blake *2015: ''Mad Full of Dreams'' as Lowenstein *2014: ''Frank vs. God'' as Rabbi Grossman *2012: ''

Doctor Bello ''Doctor Bello'' is a 2013 Nigerian adventure drama film directed by Tony Abulu starring Isaiah Washington, Vivica A. Fox, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Genevieve Nnaji, Stephanie Okereke, Justus Esiri, Ebbe Bassey and Jon Freda. Cast *Isaiah Washington a ...

'' as Dr. Bernstein *2011: ''

Identical Identical may refer to: * Identical, when two things are the same, see Identity (philosophy) * Identical (Hopkins novel), ''Identical'' (Hopkins novel), a 2008 young adult novel by Ellen Hopkins * Identical (Turow novel), ''Identical'' (Turow novel ...

'' as Rabbi Resnikoff *2011: '' Project Nim'' as Dr. Lemmon *2010: '' Holy Rollers'' as Rebbe Horowitz *2009: '' Tickling Leo'' as Yosef Gottleib *2006: '' The Minority'' as Dr. Berger

References

Notes

Sources

* "Bilingual Education Models", ''NY Times'' * ''Who's Who in Education'' * ''BACKSTAGE'', March, 2009 * ''Times Herald Record'', June, 2005 * ''Rockland Review'', August, 2009

External links

Home Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Bern Male actors from Manhattan Adelphi University alumni City College of New York alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Living people 1949 births Valley Stream South High School alumni