White was born on November 15, 1947, in Mount Sterling, Kentucky.[3] He was raised by his single mother in Mount Sterling, approximately 35 miles east of Lexington.[2][3] A love of reading led White to pursue a career as a writer.[2] He served in the U.S. Navy before enrolling at the University of Massachusetts.[2] He left the university after a year and worked a series of jobs in the Boston area.[3] He moved to Los Angeles during the 1970s to pursue screenwriting.[2]
White credited his friend, actor Sidney Poitier, with helping in get his first screenwriting job.[1] Poitier hired White in 1992 to write the screenplay for a thriller called Red Money.[3] The film was never made, but it marked White's breakthrough into screenwriting after decades of attempts.[3] In a 2005 award acceptance speech before the Friends of the Black Oscar Nominees group, White thanked Poitier: "I would like to publicly thank Mr. Poitier, who was the first person in Hollywood to take a chance on me as a screenwriter."[3]
White was working on two screenplays at the time of his death in 2015 – a biopic on Bessie Smith titled Empress of the Blues, and a film focusing on Dinah Washington, which is in pre-production.[1]
White died from complications of liver and pancreatic cancer at his home in Santa Monica, California, on July 23, 2015, at the age of 67.[1] He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, two daughters and a son.[1]
