Michael Todd White was born on 10 October 1969 in San Antonio, Texas. Painting was in his blood from the start: his grandmother was a painter and his mother Kathryn Yahn specialises in traditional Southwestern landscapes. From 1991 to 2000, White built a distinguished career in animation, working on Tiny Toons and spending his final years as lead character designer for SpongeBob SquarePants at Nickelodeon. In 2000 he left animation to devote himself entirely to painting.

Described as 'Rat Pack meets Picasso', Todd White is a figurative expressionist whose elongated, character-driven figures inhabit a world of cocktail glasses, late-night lounges and social theatre. Each painting begins with a title and a story — White never picks up a brush until he can see the entire narrative in his head. The result is work of extraordinary warmth and wit that captures the comedy and pathos of human connection.

In 2007 the Recording Academy named Todd White the official artist of the Grammy Awards. In 2010, Coca-Cola Light selected his sketches for a limited edition Mexican can and bottle series — the first time Coke had collaborated with a fine artist on its label. Today, White is one of the best-selling artists in the United Kingdom, with work in galleries across North America and international private collections worldwide.