After school, Cohen moved to Los Angeles, where he accepted a clerical job as a
Directors Guild of America trainee on
Steven Spielberg's
The Color Purple, The film, 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 (PGA) awards. He later earned additional Best Picture nominations for
Milk and
Silver Linings Playbook.
Milk, directed by
Gus Van Sant, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won Oscars for
Best Actor and
Best Original Screenplay, as well as the PGA's
Stanley Kramer Award.
Silver Linings Playbook, written and directed by
David O. Russell, was nominated for eight Oscars. It was the first film in 31 years to be nominated in all four acting categories, with
Jennifer Lawrence going on to win the Oscar for
Best Actress. Other films Cohen has produced include
Big Fish, directed by
Tim Burton, which was nominated for both Golden Globe and BAFTA Best Picture awards. In 2013, he served as lead producer of the stage musical version of
Big Fish on Broadway, under the direction and choreography of five-time Tony winner
Susan Stroman. On television, Cohen was executive producer of the ABC series
Pushing Daisies, which won a total of seven
Emmys and was nominated for a Golden Globe as
Best Comedy. He was also executive producer of the CBS special
Movies Rock. In 2011, he 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 Producers Branch of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 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 declared unconstitutional. In 2019, Bruce Cohen joined the Advisory Board for the Harlem Film House, which presents the
Hip Hop Film Festival, 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. ==Personal life==