Winnie Holzman is an American screenwriter, playwright, and poet. She grew up in Long Island, New York and attended the Circle in the Square Theatre School as a teenager. After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in English, she then gained a master’s degree in Musical Theatre Writing from New York University where she was mentored by Arthur Laurents. Some of her other teachers included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Leonard Bernstein. After writing the book and lyrics for the Off-Broadway musical Birds of Paradise (1987), Holzman made her Broadway debut writing the book for Wicked. She won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and was Tony-nominated for Best Book of a Musical. In 2013, Holzman and her husband, actor Paul Dooley, wrote and starred in the play Assisted Living which premiered at The Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles.
Holzman has forged a successful career in television, writing the scripts for the popular ABC dramas Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life, which she created. In 2010, Holzman and her daughter, Susannah Dooley, created and co-wrote the ABC series Huge. She then became one of the producers and writers on Cameron Crowe’s comedy-drama series Roadies (2016). Holzman has also appeared in front of the camera, garnering character roles in various television series and the film Jerry Maguire.
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