[3] He attended Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude in the class of 1971, after transferring from Amherst College after two years[4] concentrating in a cross major between anthropology and visual studies.

[5] Upon graduation, Cohen immediately headed to Los Angeles to work as a screenwriter for Martin Jurow but soon found himself unemployed when the producer moved out of state.

After a six-month stint as a kennel boy at the Harvey Animal Hospital in West Hollywood to make ends meet, Cohen landed a job as a reader for then-agent Mike Medavoy.

Six weeks into his tenure at International Famous Agency (now part of ICM), he distinguished himself by discovering an unheralded script he found in a slush pile of neglected screenplays.

[7] Diller recommended Cohen to his friend impresario, songwriter, producer and record label founder Berry Gordy who was looking to bring his company Motown into the film business.

At the same time, he developed a unique film from the Bill Brashler novel The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976) starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor.

Departing Motown in 1978, Cohen went on to produce and direct films and television series, including Miami Vice, Light of Day,[9] The Witches of Eastwick, Ironweed, and The Wiz.

In March 1997, NBC announced that it had filmed a pilot episode for a proposed television drama series named The Angel (later renamed The Guardian), for its fall 1997 schedule.

[11][12] The premise of the show, which was written and directed by Rob Cohen, had Thomas Ian Griffith starring as Ray Angelotti (known as The Guardian Angel), an ex-thief and martial arts expert with a sixth-degree Kenpo Karate black belt, who comes out of prison determined to right wrongs and make up for his past misdeeds.