White was born in the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, California, the daughter of Sue Jane (née Terry), a therapist, and Edwin White, a dentist. White and her family moved to Austin, Texas, to take up ranching when she was three years old. She started acting in local plays and became a semi-professional at 16. While she was playing the lead role in the musical The Baker's Wife, the show's authors encouraged her to take her talent to New York City.
After graduating from high school, she attended Southwest Texas State University (now known as Texas State University) and then attended Fordham University as an English major, although she did not graduate. White married Carl Pandel in 1984; they divorced in 1990.
