[1] When Di Novi was three years old, her family moved to Los Angeles from New York, where her father had been a Bebop jazz musician in Big Bands, as well as musical conductor for Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, Ann-Margret, and Dinah Shore.
After working as a copy editor at the National Observer and staff writer for Canada AM, she became a reporter for Toronto's Citytv, but left to take a job as a unit publicist for Final Assignment.
These include six from her partnership with Tim Burton: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Cabin Boy (1994), Ed Wood (also 1994) and James and the Giant Peach (1996).
She produced four films based on books by Nicholas Sparks: Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), Nights in Rodanthe (2008) and The Lucky One (2012).
For four years, Di Novi was executive producer of The District, a CBS primetime series created by Terry George.