Margie Cohn
President, DreamWorks Animation
Margie Cohn is President of DreamWorks Animation. Home to some of the world’s most beloved franchises including Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Trolls, The Boss Baby, The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks Animation creates award-winning films and television series for a global audience. As president, Cohn leads the prolific animation studio of almost 2,000 artists, animators, technologists and executives to produce two theatrical films each year, in addition to hundreds of episodes of distinctive television series for nearly every major streaming platform.
DreamWorks Animation’s 2022 feature slate includes recent hit The Bad Guys, an original film based on the best-selling books grossing over $247M worldwide to date, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the sequel to the 2011 Oscar®-nominated blockbuster coming in December. Recently released films include The Boss Baby: Family Business, the sequel to the 2017 Oscar®-nominated blockbuster comedy, the epic adventure Spirit Untamed, the colorful, glitter-filled Trolls World Tour, and audience favorite and award-nominated The Croods: A New Age.
DreamWorks’ acclaimed television division is on track to deliver more than 240 episodes in 2022. The television division currently has 20 series in active production including the recently released Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight starring Jack Black. Other current series include the award-winning Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, hit preschool series Gabby's Dollhouse, The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib, The Croods: Family Tree, Dragons: The Nine Realms, The Mighty Ones, Pinecone & Pony, Team Zenko Go and Go, Dog. Go! Upcoming titles include Abominable and the Invisible City, based on the acclaimed 2019 feature film, Not Quite Narwhal, Dew Drop Diaries and Megamind's Guide To Defending Your City. In 2021, the studio premiered its first original feature for streaming, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans from Oscar® winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.
Cohn previously served as President of DreamWorks Animation Television. Hired to build the division at its inception in 2013, she oversaw television development and production, expanding the studio’s rapidly growing slate of original television series for DWA TV’s groundbreaking multi-year deal with Netflix as well as for Hulu, Amazon, Universal Kids and other leading broadcasters around the world. As part of DWA’s global initiatives, Cohn and her team were tasked with creating original animated programming inspired by DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures’ iconic franchises and feature films, as well as projects based on original and acquired intellectual property. Since 2013, DreamWorks Animation Television has won 31 Emmy® Awards.
Among the many titles DreamWorks Animation Television produced under Cohn’s leadership are multiple Emmy®-winning series, including Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters (part of the Tales of Arcadia trilogy), All Hail King Julien, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Dragons: Race to the Edge, and Spirit Riding Free in addition to the reimagined pop culture phenomenon Voltron: Legendary Defender. Other popular DWA series include Trolls: The Beat Goes On,Harvey Street Kids, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, 3Below, Archibald’s Next Big Thing and Where’s Waldo? and a Fast & Furious series based on the global powerhouse Universal Pictures franchise.
Prior to her career at DreamWorks, Cohn spent more than 20 years at Nickelodeon, where, in various development and production roles, she helped make the network number one in cable television for 18 consecutive years. She started as a coordinator in physical production and left as President of Content Development. During her years at Nickelodeon, she worked on every type of production, including live-action scripted comedy; animation; games and reality; TV movies; documentary; soap opera and event programming. Some of the series under her guidance that went on to become beloved hits include Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Fairly Odd Parents, SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly, Nick News with Linda Ellerbee and the Kids’ Choice Awards, as well as more than 20 made-for-TV movies.
Cohn graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and English. In 2017, she was presented with an Alumni Achievement Award, which honors an alumna or alumnus who, over the course a decade or more, has exemplified outstanding, significant professional achievement. Cohn is a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She serves on the advisory board of Women in Animation and is a member of Women in Film.