Jeffrey Daniel Whitty (born September 30, 1971) is an American playwright, actor, and screenwriter. For the stage musical Avenue Q, he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. For his work on the Fox Searchlight film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), he was nominated for the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and won numerous awards including the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay, AARP's Movies for Grownups, the Satellite Awards, and the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Avenue Q was his first produced musical and Can You Ever Forgive Me his first produced screenplay. Early life and education Jeffrey Whitty was born September 30, 1971 in Coos Bay, Oregon where he was raised as the fifth of six children. After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1993, he moved to New York City and received a master's degree from New York University's Graduate Acting Program in 1997. After two decades in New York he moved to Los Angeles in 2013. Career He won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Book of a musical for Avenue Q, written with composers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, which opened at Broadway's John Golden Theatre in 2003 and ran commercially in New York City for sixteen years. Among dozens of international productions and two national tours, the musical ran for six years on London's West End, as produced by Cameron Mackintosh. Whitty wrote the libretto to the musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City novels, with music by Jake Shears and John Garden of the musical group Scissor Sisters. The musical was workshopped at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2009 National Music Theater Conference. It opened in a limited run at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco on May 18, 2011 and after extending twice closed on July 10. It was directed by Jason Moore with a cast that featured Judy Kaye, Betsy Wolfe, Mary Birdsong and Wesley Taylor. Whitty won the 2011 Bay Area Critics Circle award for his work. Whitty wrote the libretto for Bring It On: The Musical, a "free adaptation" of the popular film series with an original story by Whitty, with music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda and lyrics by Amanda Green and Miranda. Direction was by Andy Blankenbuehler with music direction by Alex Lacamoire. The