Linda Woolverton

Biography

Linda Cheryl Woolverton (born December 19, 1952, in Long Beach, California) is an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. She is best known for her influential work with Disney, crafting powerful and modern female characters in both animated and live-action films.

Early Life & Education
Woolverton grew up in Long Beach, where she was active in theater from a young age. She studied Theatre Arts and earned a BFA from California State University, Long Beach, followed by an MA in children’s theater from California State University, Fullerton.

Career Highlights

After college, Woolverton formed her own children’s theater company, writing, directing, and performing in community productions.

She then worked at CBS, writing children’s television while gradually building her screenwriting career.

Woolverton became the first woman to write a full screenplay for a Disney animated feature with Beauty and the Beast (1991).

She co-wrote the screenplay for The Lion King (1994) and contributed story material for Mulan (1998).

Woolverton adapted Beauty and the Beast into a successful Broadway musical and wrote two young adult novels: Star Wind and Running Before the Wind.

She wrote the screenplay for Alice in Wonderland (2010), presenting a darker, more adventurous version of Alice.

Woolverton also penned Maleficent (2014) and its sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), offering a sympathetic take on the iconic villain.

She returned to Wonderland with Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), evolving Alice into a self-actualized heroine.