Noni White

Noni White is an American screenwriter and actress. White is best known for co-creating and writing the screenplay for Newsies along with her husband Bob Tzudiker, which was based on the real-life[1] Newsboys' strike of 1899. Newsies began as a "classic underdog story ripped from the history books", with writers Tzudiker and White approaching producer Michael Finnell with an idea for a nonmusical drama; however, Disney studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg redirected the project to become a musical.[2]

She also shares writing credit on The Hunchback of Notre Dame ( 1996), Anastasia (1997), Tarzan (1999), and 102 Dalmatians (2000). She also contributed to the film The Lion King (1994) and has written screenplays for every major studio.[3]

The stage version of Newsies opened March 29, 2012,[4] and closed on August 24, 2014, grossing over $100 million.[5] The 2017 three-day cinema showing of Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical! broke ticketing records to become the highest-grossing Broadway event to date from Fathom Events.[6]

She is a member of the writers' branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She received several nominations for the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production.[7]

Noni also works as an actress, and has appeared in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, 7th Heaven and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom, among many others.[8]