Bruce Cohen

Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen recently launched Bruce Cohen Productions, adding live events, theater, and new media to his existing film & television businesses.

Previously, along with producing partner Dan Jinks, Bruce produced MILK, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. The film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Oscars for Best Leading Actor and Best Original Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture by the British Academy Awards (BAFTAs) and the Producer's Guild (PGA), and received the PGA's Stanley Kramer Award.

Bruce and Dan won the Best Picture Academy Award in 2000 for producing AMERICAN BEAUTY. The film, which won a total of five Oscars, as well as the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and PGA Award, was the first film produced through The Jinks/Cohen Company. Their second film was DOWN WITH LOVE starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, followed by BIG FISH, which was nominated as Best Picture by both the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. Other films include THE FORGOTTEN, starring Julianne Moore, and John August's directing debut, THE NINES, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hope Davis.

In television, the pair executive produced the acclaimed ABC series PUSHING DAISIES, which won a total of 7 Emmys and was nominated for a Golden Globe as best comedy. They also served as executive producers on the series TRAVELER (ABC) and SIDE ORDER OF LIFE (Lifetime). Bruce executive produced the emmy-nominated CBS special MOVIES ROCK in 2007.

Before his partnership with Dan, Bruce produced THE FLINTSTONES and the prequel, THE FLINTSTONES IN: VIVA ROCK VEGAS, as well as MOUSEHUNT. He executive produced TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR! and co-produced ALIVE. A graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983, he began his film career as the DGA trainee on Steven Spielberg's THE COLOR PURPLE and went on to serve as the associate producer and first assistant director on Spielberg's HOOK.

Along with James Moll and Dan Jinks, Bruce produced A TIMELESS CALL, a film tribute to veterans, directed by Spielberg for the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. He was appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles to the Mayoral Transition Team in 2005, and Bruce and his husband, Gabe Catone, were the first LGBT couple to be married by the Mayor at City Hall in May, 2008. He is on the Board of Directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the federal case to have Prop 8 declared unconstitutional and on the Advisory Board of the Harvey Milk Foundation.

Bruce is currently finishing up his second term as Vice President of Motion Pictures of the Producer's Guild. He is on the Executive Committee of the Producer's Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and produced the first ever Governor's Awards for the Academy in November, 2009.