Denise Di Novi

Biography

Denise Di Novi is an American film producer and director.

Denise Di Novi is one of the most prominent producers in Hollywood, producing dozens of films for most Hollywood studios. Her most popular include Heathers, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Crazy, Stupid, Love and Practical Magic, and Little Women starring Winona Ryder and Little Women starring Saoirse Ronan. She is the daughter of jazz musician Gene DiNovi; when Di Novi was three years old, her family moved to Los Angeles from New York, where her father had been a prominent Bebop jazz musician in many of the Big Bands, as well as serving as Musical Conductor for Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, Anne Margaret and Dinah Shore. In the 70s, the family moved to Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Patricia McNeil Di Novi, was a dancer in New York City on Broadway.

Di Novi studied communications at Simmons College in Massachusetts and earned a journalism degree. After working as a copy editor at the National Observer and staff writer for Canada AM, she became a reporter for Toronto's Citytv. However, she left to take a job as a unit publicist for Final Assignment. She became a principal in the Montreal-based production company Filmplan International, acting in various production capacities on nine major studio releases, including films with David Cronenberg. In 1983, Filmplan relocated to Los Angeles and merged with Arnold Kopelson's Film Packages.[citation needed]

Di Novi joined New World Pictures as Executive Vice President of production. She later shifted into an overall deal as an independent producer, producing Heathers (1988) starring Winona Ryder. Di Novi then headed Tim Burton Productions and was responsible for producing several films. She set up her own production company, Di Novi Pictures, 1993 at Columbia Pictures. She then entered into a producing deal with Warner Brothers Pictures.

Di Novi has produced over 40 films. These include six from her partnership with Tim Burton: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Cabin Boy (1994), Ed Wood (also 1994) and James and the Giant Peach(1996). She produced four films based on books by Nicholas Sparks: Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), Nights in Rodanthe (2008) and The Lucky One (2012).

For four years, Di Novi was executive producer of The District, a CBS primetime series created by Terry George. Di Novi made her directorial debut on the thriller Unforgettable (2017) for Warner Bros.

Di Novi completed a series for FX, The Veil, starring Elisabeth Moss, that aired in 2024.

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