Jeff Kinney

Jeffrey Patrick "Jeff" Kinney (born 19th February 1971) is an American game designer and cartoonist. He is the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series). He also made the child-oriented online role-playing game Poptropica.

Early Life
Kinney was born and grew up in Fort Washington, Maryland, United States. He had two brothers and a sister. He attended the University of Maryland at College Park in the early 1990s. It was in college that Kinney created the popular comic strip, Igdoof that ran in the campus newspaper, The Diamondback which later became Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
In 2004, Funbrain and Kinney released a web-book called Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the website made daily entries until June 2005. The web-book was a instant hit, reaching 20 million views by 2007, causing many readers to request a published version of the web-book. Kinney agreed and released Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 2007, but the book version was quite different. The most notable difference was that the drawings were edited using programs, the plot was slightly changed, and the book was also a little shortened. To date, thirteen Wimpy Kid books have been released, including two Do-It-Yourself books and three Movie diaries.

Professional Work
Kinney works as a writer and designer of online games. He also created the child-friendly website, Poptropica, which is played by many kids around the world. Poptropica has two Wimpy Kid based islands called Wimpy Wonderland and Wimpy Boardwalk where many characters and places from Wimpy Kid are present. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has 58 million copies in print worldwide in softcover and in hardcover. In 2010 Wimpy kid was developed into a film and Kinney served as the executive producer. In the Rodrick Rules movie, he played as the character Mr. Hills and returned in the Dog Days movie to reprise the character.

Personal Life
Kinney attended Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland and lives in Plainville, Massachusetts with his wife, Julie, and two sons, Will and Grant. Jeff has a small house next to his home, where he writes and does karaoke. The character of Rodrick is believed to be based on his elder brother, Scott Kinney (musician) and Manny is believed to based on his younger brother, Pat. His great-grandmother was Polish.

Books

 * 2007: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
 * 2008: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
 * 2008: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It Yourself Book
 * 2009: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
 * 2009: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
 * 2010: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary
 * 2010: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
 * 2011: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
 * 2011: The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book
 * 2011: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Rodrick Rules Edition)
 * 2012: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel
 * 2012: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Dog Days Edition)
 * 2013: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck
 * 2013: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Writer's Notebook
 * 2013: Comics Notebook
 * 2013: Your Best Ideas
 * 2013: Sketch Paper
 * 2014: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
 * 2015: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School
 * 2016: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down
 * 2017: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (The Long Haul Edition)
 * 2017: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway
 * 2018: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown
 * 2019: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal

Other Works

 * 2014:The Wimpy Kid School Planner

Films
A film based on the first book was released on March 19, 2010. It was produed by 20th Century Fox and directed by Thor Freudenthal. A second film based on the second book was released on March 15, 2011. It was directed by David Bowers. Kinney played a small role in the film. A third film based on Dog Days and The Last Straw was released on 3 August, 2012. Kinney once again played a small role of Mr. Hills. In 2013, he announced a fourth film being animated for 2014, but since of December that year, nothing revealed came out. A new film based on the book The Long Haul is most likely going to come out after it was hinted at, at the 3rd annual Virtually Live Event, a casting call for 2 parts was released and some of the characters actors have been revealed.

Links
Jeff Kinney's Official Twitter Account