Jeff Kinney (author)
| Jeff Kinney | |
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Kinney at a book signing event in November 2011
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| Born |
Jeffrey Patrick Kinney February 19, 1971 Fort Washington, Maryland, U.S. |
| Residence | Plainville, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Notable work | Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| Spouse(s) | Julie Kinney |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | wimpykid |
Jeffrey Patrick "Jeff" Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American game designer, cartoonist, producer, actor, movie director and author of children's books including the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. He is also attributed as the creator of the child-oriented website Poptropica. He also appeared in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films as Holly Hills's father. Kinney was born and brought up in Fort Washington, Maryland, United States.
He has an older brother, sister and a younger brother. He attended the University of Maryland at College Park in the early 1990s. It was in college that Kinney created a popular comic strip, Igdoof, which ran in the campus newspaper, The Diamondback.
In January 1998, Diary of a Wimpy Kid officially began, when Kinney brought up the idea of a middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley, who writes illustrated stories about his personal life. In May 2004, FunBrain and Jeff Kinney released an online version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The website made daily entries until June 2005. He worked on his book for almost eight years, before showing it to a publisher in New York.
In February 2006, during the New York Comic Con, Jeff signed a multi-book deal with publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., to turn Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a print series.
The book became an instant hit, with the online version receiving about 20 million views as of 2007. When many online readers requested a printed version, Kinney agreed, and in April 2007, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published. To date, thirteen Wimpy Kid books have been released, including a do-it-yourself book and a movie diary. In April 2009, TIME named Kinney one of The World's Most Influential People. In 2016, the series won a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for Favorite Book.
Kinney works full-time as a writer and designer of online games. He also created the kid-friendly website Poptropica. Poptropica includes two islands called "Wimpy Wonderland" and "Wimpy Boardwalk", where the Diary of a Wimpy Kid characters and events are featured in the Poptropica universe.
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