Childhood & Early Life
Andrew Joseph Cohen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, US, on June 2, 1968, into the Jewish family of Lou Cohen and Evelyn. During his childhood, he remained part of ‘Camp Nebagamon for Boys’ in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin.
He studied at the ‘Clayton High School’ and completed his graduation in 1986. He later attended ‘Boston University’ and obtained his BS degree in broadcast journalism. While there, he wrote for the independent student newspaper of the university, ‘The Daily Free Press.’
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Career
Cohen ventured into TV, working as an intern at ‘CBS News.’ During his long association with the network, he contributed as a producer of several ‘CBS’ shows. He worked as a senior producer for ‘The Early Show’ and as a producer for ‘CBS This Morning’ and ‘48 Hours.’
In 2000, he began working with the network ‘Trio,’ and following its takeover by ‘Bravo,’ Cohen was made their vice president of original programming in 2004. His responsibilities as the executive vice president of development and talent of ‘Bravo’ till 2013 included developing original content and formats, apart from identifying new talent.
He worked as an executive producer for the ‘Peabody Award’-winning ‘Trio’ documentary ‘The N-Word’ (2004), the ‘Bravo’ reality TV series ‘Project Runway’ (2007), and the ‘Emmy’-winning ‘Bravo’ reality competition series ‘Top Chef’ (2010). He continues his association with the ‘Real Housewives’ franchise as an executive producer.
He worked as a host for the American pop culture-based late-night talk show ‘Watch What Happens Live,’ which premiered on ‘Bravo’ on July 16, 2009. Cohen is supposed to host the ongoing show (renamed ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen’) till 2020. He also contributes as an executive producer of the show.
He appeared in the ‘NBC’ morning talk show ‘Today’ (2010–2019) and co-hosted the syndicated morning talk show ‘Live! with Kelly’ (2011–2019) and the ‘ABC’ talk show ‘The View’ (2012–2018). Over the years, he has appeared in single episodes of several TV programs, such as ‘The Comeback’ (2014) and ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ (2016). He also appeared as a shoe salesman in an episode of the popular romantic comedy–drama series ‘Sex and the City’ (2004), titled ‘Let There Be Light.’
Cohen has also hosted various beauty pageants, such as the ‘Miss USA’ pageant in 2011, 2012, and 2013 and the ‘Miss Universe’ pageant in 2011 and 2012. Cohen, who is quite candid about being gay, mentioned on August 15, 2013, that he would not co-host the ‘Miss Universe’ pageant that was to be held in Russia that year, as the country had then recently adopted anti-gay laws.
He was included on the list of the "25 Best Dressed Men of the Year" of ‘GQ’ and was selected as one of the "Digital All-Stars" of ‘Broadcasting & Cable’ in 2012. He also found a place on the list of the ‘Most Powerful Gay People’ of the American LGBT fashion, lifestyle, and entertainment magazine ‘Out,’ from 2012 to 2016.
‘Most Talkative,’ the autobiographical memoir of Cohen, which was published on May 8, 2012, by ‘Henry Holt and Company,’ became a ‘New York Times Best Seller.’ He came up with his second memoir, ‘The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year,’ on November 11, 2014. It emerged as a ‘Times Best Seller’ in the ‘Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction’ category. An announcement by ‘Henry Holt and Company’ in 2016 informed that they were launching the imprint ‘Andy Cohen Books.’ Cohen’s third book, ‘Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries,’ a sequel of his second book, was published on November 15 that year. It was another ‘Times Best Seller.’
Meanwhile, the March 2014-released music video of the song ‘G.U.Y.’ from Lady Gaga’s third studio album, ‘Artpop’ (2013), featured Cohen as ‘Zeus.’
Cohen’s own pop culture channel, ‘Radio Andy,’ was launched by ‘SiriusXM Radio’ on September 14, 2015. The channel airs the shows ‘Andy Cohen's Deep & Shallow’ and ‘Andy Cohen Live’ hosted by Cohen. Other shows of the channel that featured Cohen were ‘Radio Andy Theater,’ ‘AC2 Live: Andy and Anderson on the Road,’ and ‘Love Connection Diaries.’ Another show, ‘Town Halls,’ has Cohen appearing before a live studio audience. The conversational stage show ‘AC2’ by Cohen and Anderson Cooper, which encompassed a live national tour of the two that began in March 2015 in Boston, had the duo perform the show in more than 50 cities.
The ‘NBC’-aired New Year's Eve-themed live episode of ‘Hollywood Game Night, titled ‘New Year’s Eve Game Night,’ was hosted by Cohen on December 31, 2015. He also co-hosted the 2015–2016 ‘New Year's Eve with Carson Daly’ for the network.
The 2017–2018 coverage of ‘CNN’s annual ‘New Year's Eve’ TV special, ‘New Year's Eve Live,’ saw Cohen replace comedian Kathy Griffin and co-host the show along with Cooper. He hosted the show again with Cooper during its 2018–2019 broadcast.
He won the ‘Vito Russo Award’ at the 30th ‘GLAAD Media Awards’ in 2019.
