American screenwriter, director and actor Mike White was BOTD in 1970. Born in Pasadena, California, he was raised in a conservative Christian family. His father was a speechwriter for far-right religious leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. White studied at Wesleyan University where he met Zak Penn, who encouraged him to pursue a screenwriting career. After graduating, White moved to Hollywood, becoming a writer and producer for teen TV serials Dawson’s Creek and Freaks and Geeks. He turned heads with his screenplay for the 2000 Chuck & Buck, a chilling drama in which a disturbed loner (played by White) stalks his male childhood friend. He also wrote the screenplays for the films Orange County, The Good Girl, School of Rock and Nacho Libre. In 2011, he created, co-wrote, directed and acted in the TV drama series Enlightened, starring Laura Dern as a disgraced former executive who re-experiences life at the bottom of the food chain. The show’s politically subversive themes and satirical take on zero-hours corporate America earned critical praise and a cult following, but was cancelled after its second season due to low ratings. White is best known as the creator of the 2021 TV drama series The White Lotus, chronicling a group of rich American tourists holidaying at an exclusive hotel in Hawaii. Released at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the show’s combination of lush travelogue porn, free-range nudity and broadly drawn eat-the-rich satire made it a critical and ratings success, winning four Emmy Awards. The show was also a career comeback for actress-comedian Jennifer Coolidge, as a narcissistic hotel guest, and Murray Bartlett as a stressed and very gay hotel receptionist, who won multiple industry awards. Building on the show’s success, White produced a second season in 2022 set in Italy, in which Coolidge’s character becomes the target of evil gay confidence tricksters. Her cry of despair in the series finale, “These gays are trying to kill me!” became the year’s most popular internet meme, while critics wrote enthusiastically about the show’s witty presentation of gay characters as villains. A third season, set in Thailand, was released in 2025. His post-Lotus screenplay projects include the films Beatriz at Dinner, The Emoji Movie, Pitch Perfect 3 and Despicable Me 4. White came out as bisexual in 1994, and was in a long-term relationship with his partner Josh until 2025.