David X. Cohen adopted the middle initial X in 1998 to comply with Writers Guild of America rules that prohibited multiple writers from using the same name. The Guild required him to change his name because another writer named David S. Cohen was already credited on projects like Balto and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Cohen chose the letter X because it sounded sci-fi-ish and made him the David Cohen people would remember.
David X. Cohen earned a B.A. in physics from Harvard University and a M.S. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. During his graduate studies, he wrote an Apple II compiler and video game in MOS 6502 assembly language and published research on the theoretical computer science problem of pancake sorting. He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey, where he was a member of the state champion mathematics team.
Futurama premiered on the 28th of March 1999 after David X. Cohen and Matt Groening pitched the series to Fox in April 1998. Cohen served as head writer, executive producer, co-showrunner, and voice director of the series. The show was developed in 1996 as a collaboration between Cohen and Groening to create an animated series about life in the year 3000.
David X. Cohen coined the word cromulent in the episode Lisa the Iconoclast of The Simpsons to mean valid or acceptable. The word was so successfully used in context that it was subsequently included in Webster's New Millennium Dictionary. Cohen wrote or co-wrote thirteen episodes of The Simpsons before moving on to create his own universe.
After four years on the air, the series was canceled by Fox but returned to life due to strong DVD sales and stable ratings on Adult Swim. Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes which led to the production of four straight-to-DVD films between 2007 and 2009. Comedy Central eventually picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes that began airing in mid-2010.
David X. Cohen has won four Primetime Emmy Awards, two for Futurama and two for The Simpsons. His writing credits include Disenchantment and various episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama, including the 2025 episode Destroy Tall Monsters. Cohen's contributions to the field of animation continue to be recognized and celebrated by fans and critics alike.