Biography

Denise Di Novi was born on March 21, 1956 in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Heathers (1989), Little Women (2019) and Ed Wood (1994). She was previously married to Scott Farrow.

Cousin of producer/director Matthew Coppola and actress Alicia Coppola.

Her father, a musician, worked with Doris Day.

Educated in Communications at Simmons College, all-women's institution in Boston, Massachusetts.

Casting "Republic of Doyle" for CBC

[as a collaborator on a number of Nicholas Sparks adaptations] What defines a 'chick flick' is that the number-one goal is to find a man. When we create a female character, she's not defined by the man. That's a massive difference. The other distinction is that our male characters are always equal to the women in dimension and intensity.

We have thankfully come to a point in time where enough female-driven movies are working at the box office that we can expand upon the stories that we're telling. I think illuminating as many different aspects of the female experience is really going to be the future. There were so many decades where we saw only certain types of female roles over and over again. Occasionally, there would be some surprising role like Monster (2003). I hope that we can see women play every kind of role. [2017]