Lester W. Cohen
Adjunct Instructor
Lester Cohen was born in the housing projects of Newark, New Jersey and raised in the suburban splendor of eastern Long Island. After attending Rhode Island School of Design for Fine Arts he transferred to New York University to study Filmmaking. While attending NYU he discovered his love for Production Design and began working professionally on music videos and television commercials.
In the mid 1980’s, Lester began designing independent features in New York. Some of his early films were TRUE LOVE directed by Nancy Savoca, and JUICE starring Tupac Shakur. Along the way, he has had the good fortune of working with a wide variety of talented directors such as Alfonso Cuaron, Doug Liman, Jim Mangold, Jim Sheridan, Bronwen Hughes, Ernest Dickerson, John Turturro, Richard Shepard, Simon Curtis, Susan Seidelman, Nick Gomez, Wai-Kung Lau, David Duchovny, and Errol Morris.
His Feature work includes the comedies FADING GIGOLO, and FORCES OF NATURE, the children’s film HARRIETT THE SPY, the documentary THIN BLUE LINE and finally such dramatic films as COPLAND, STANDER, and THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON.
Lester is also active in the commercial world designing hundreds of ads for the likes of American Express, E-Bay, Fed Ex, Kayak, Mercedes, Nike, Suntory Whiskey, and many others. He has designed numerous television series & pilots including HBO’s limited series “THE NIGHT OF” & Hulu’s “THE LOOMING TOWER”. John Turturro’s remake of the French farce “Going Places” is Lester’s latest project.
Member: AMPAS, IATSE local 829, and the DGA.
Courses
GFMTVGT. 2011.01 8759 - Aesthetics: Intro to Production Design
Education
BFA NYU TSOA