Etan Cohen

Not to be confused with Ethan Coen.

Etan Cohen (Hebrew: איתן כהן; born March 14, 1974) is an Israeli-American screenwriter and film director who has written scripts for Hollywood movies, including Idiocracy (2006), Tropic Thunder (2008), Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), Men in Black 3 (2012), and The Bad Guys (2022).

Etan Cohen
איתן כהן
Born	(1974-03-14) March 14, 1974 (age 51) Israel
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard College
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	1995–present

Early life and education

Born in Israel to a Jewish family, Cohen grew up in Sharon, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Maimonides School and Harvard College, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.^[1][2]

Career

His first produced scripts, in 1995 and 1997, were for Beavis and Butthead, where he was credited as Etan Cohen. ^[3]He has since written for other Mike Judge-directed projects, including King of the Hill from 2001 to 2005, and for the feature film Idiocracy in 2006.^[4] In the late 1990s he worked on two other television series – the animated Recess and the short lived It's Like, You Know.... In 2007, he wrote the short film ‘My Wife is Retarded,’.^[5] After scripting Idiocracy, he worked on the animated series, American Dad! and wrote the episode, "Failure Is Not a Factory-Installed Option". The American Dad! minor character of the same name is named for him.

In 2008, Cohen co-wrote, along with Ben Stiller and Justin Theroux, the action-comedy film Tropic Thunder. He also co-wrote, along with Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which earned an Annie Award nomination for best Writing in a Feature Production.

Cohen penned the script for 2012's Men in Black 3. In 2015, he made his directorial debut with Get Hard, which he also co-wrote.

Cohen wrote and directed the 2018 film Holmes & Watson. The film was a critical and commercial flop and later earned him a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director.^[6]

Personal life

Cohen is an observant Jew.^[7] He keeps kosher and does not work on the Jewish Sabbath. He and his wife send their children to a Jewish day school.^[7]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2006	Idiocracy	No	Yes	Co-wrote with Mike Judge
2008	Tropic Thunder	No	Yes	Co-wrote with Justin Theroux and Ben Stiller
	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	No	Yes	Co-wrote with Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath Nominated – Annie Award for Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production[8]
2012	Men in Black 3	No	Yes
2015	Get Hard	Yes	Yes	Directorial debut Co-wrote with Jay Martel and Ian Roberts
2018	Holmes & Watson	Yes	Yes	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director[9]
2022	The Bad Guys	No	Yes	Additional screenplay material by Yoni Brenner and Hilary Winston Also executive producer with Aaron Blabey and Patrick Hughes
	Puss in Boots: The Last Wish	No	Partial	Additional screenplay material
2024	Brothers	No	Yes
2025	The Bad Guys 2	No	Yes	Co-wrote with Yoni Brenner

Television

Year	Title	Notes
1995–1997	Beavis and Butt-head
1999	It's Like, You Know
	Recess
	Timon & Pumbaa
2001–2005	King of the Hill	Annie Award for Best Writing in an Animated Television Production[10]
2006	American Dad!

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2005	Annie Award	Writing in an Animated Television Production	King of the Hill	Won	[11]
2007	US Comedy Arts Festival	Comedy Festival Award for Best Short Film	My Wife Is Retarded	Won	[12]
2009	Annie Award	Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production	Madagascar 2	Nominated	[11]
2019	39th Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Director	Holmes & Watson	Won	[13]