Michael Dwayne Cohen is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Schwoz Schwartz in Henry Danger and its spinoffs, The Adventures of Kid Danger and Danger Force.
Life and career
Born in Winnipeg, Cohen was born a female, and transitioned to male in his 20s, only making the information known in 2019. He and his family moved to Richmond, British Columbia, when he was 10. As a fan of Carol Burnett and the other actors on The Carol Burnett Show, he was inspired to be an actor and writer, and won a Young Playwright's Contest at the age of 12. Years after graduating from college, Cohen moved to Toronto, where he studied acting and landed his first voiceover job, without an agent, on the animated TV seriesPippi Longstocking. He began his career when he appeared in Moville Mysteries shortly after which he appeared in Queer as Folk, Doc, RoboRoach, and Henry's World along with many commercials. In 2005, he won the national Moc Docs award for Best Mockumentary for his short filmJew Jube Lives — a rap parody based on the question "if Eminem were Jewish and grew up in Thornhill, what would he be like?". He was the voice of Ty Archer in the animated TV series Grossology for which he and the ensemble received a Gemini Award nomination, the Canadian equivalent to an Emmy nomination. Since 2014, Cohen has played Schwoz Schwartz on the sitcom Henry Danger. He has appeared on shows such as Modern Family, The Real O'Neals, 2 Broke Girls, The Mindy Project, Backstrom, Eagleheart, Austin & Ally and many others. Recent film credits include the comedy Suburbicon, directed by George Clooney and written by the Coen brothers, the Oscar-nominated film Whiplash, as well as the Canadian Screen Award-nominated film It Was You Charlie, for which he was nominated for an ACTRA Award for Outstanding Lead Performance. Cohen has dozens of commercial credits including Mini Starburst, FedEx, Capital One, Boston Market, Honda with Patrick Warburton, and the Super BowlHulu Plus campaign with Will Arnett. Cohen served as Co-Chair of the SAG-AFTRAHollywood Conservatory at the American Film Institute and is a member of the National SAG-AFTRA Conservatory Committee. He has a master's degree in adult education focusing on transformative education for performers. He offers acting workshops and private audition coaching for actors in L.A., Toronto and around the world. He resides in Los Angeles.