Winnie Holzman

Career Holzman graduated with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing at Princeton University. She won many poetry awards, including the Academy of American Poets Prize.

While at NYU she wrote the musical Birds of Paradise (with composer David Evans), which was produced Off-Broadway in 1987 and directed by Laurents. It got scathing reviews. Their first full-length collaboration, Assisted Living, premiered April 5 thorough May 12, 2013, at Los Angeles's Odyssey Theatre, starring the couple. The play was retitled One of her Biggest Fans when it ran at George Street Playhouse (New Jersey) from January 28 to February 23, 2014. Holzman said the play was "something we came up with when we were first married," based on a "stack of fan mail that had sat unopened on Paul's desk for months." In the play, "The lives of a cantankerous soap opera star and his makeup artist collide with those of his biggest fan and her father with the discovery of a piece of fan mail that changes everything -- though perhaps not in the ways they once expected." Holzman has described the play as being about " how other people make you change, and how the things that happen in everyday life – the interventions and interactions – change you."

Holzman's play, Choice, premiered at Huntington Theater Company (Boston) in 2015. It is a complex, sometimes surreal, comedic drama touching on topics that include parenting, friendship, and abortion. An updated version of the play was produced at McCarter Theater (New Jersey) from May 8 to June 2, 2024, with a cast that included Ilana Levine, Dakin Matthews, Caitlin Kinnunen, and Jake Cannavale. The 2024 production incorporated references to the COVID-19 pandemic and set the play in 2020/21.

Television In 1988, Holzman's husband, actor-writer Paul Dooley, got a job in Los Angeles on the TV series Coming of Age. While visiting her brother, cinematographer Ernest Holzman, on the set of thirtysomething, writer Richard Kramer suggested she should write for the show. Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz bought a spec script from Holzman, and she went on to become a staff writer on thirtysomething in 1989. Huge premiered in late June 2010. The show team included Holzman, Dooley, her daughter, and her brother, who was the cinematographer.

From 2014 to 2016, Holzman was one of the producers and writers of the Showtime series Roadies, a behind-the-scenes comedy about people working with a touring rock band, created by Cameron Crowe, J. J. Abrams (executive producing), and Holzman, that ran for a season. The series starred Luke Wilson, Imogen Poots, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Peter Cambor, Rafe Spall and Carla Gugino.

Film Holzman wrote the screenplay for the Universal Pictures film adaptation of Wicked. It was released in two parts. The first, Wicked: Part One, was released on November 22, 2024. The sequel film, Wicked: For Good, was released November 21, 2025.

Acting Holzman has had a number of acting spots, primarily roles in her own plays with her husband, and cameo roles on her own TV shows. Holzman played the chocolate-obsessed divorced woman in the movie Jerry Maguire and Larry David's wife's therapist on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Personal life Holzman has been married to character actor Paul Dooley, whom she met at an improv acting class in New York, Holzman notes that their 26-year age difference is "... a big part of our lives, but in a way it's meaningless." and live in Toluca Lake in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography Writing credits Film and television The Wonder Years (1990) (TV) (one episode only) Thirtysomething (1990–1991) (TV) My So-Called Life (1994–1995) (TV) (Creator) 'Til There Was You (1997) Once and Again (1999–2002) (TV) Huge (2010) (TV) (Co-creator) Roadies (2016) (TV) Wicked (2024) Wicked: For Good (2025)

Stage Serious Bizness (1983) A... My Name Is Alice (1983) Birds of Paradise (1987) Post-its® (Notes on a Marriage) (1998) Wicked (2003) Assisted Living (2013) Choice (2015)

Acting credits Thirtysomething as Sherry Eisen (1990) (TV) Major Dad as Mrs. Burns (1992) (TV) My So-Called Life as Cathy Kryzanowski (1994) (TV) Jerry Maguire as Women's Group Member (1996) Love, American Style as Miss Hepker (1999) (TV) Once and Again as Shelley (2000–2002) (TV) Roswell as Madame Vivian (2000–2002) (TV) Hopeless Pictures as Actress (2005) (TV) Curb Your Enthusiasm as Dr. Slavin (2007) (TV) Checkmate as Mrs. Sappington (2009) (short film) The Comeback as Script Supervisor (2014) (TV) You People as Mrs. Greenbaum (2023) Wicked as Audience Member (2024) (uncredited) A Man on the Inside as Pamela Malgrentz (2025) (TV)