Jeff Kinney

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Jeffrey "Jeff" Kinney'
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Born	February 19, 1971, Fort Washington, Maryland, United States
Occupation	Author, Game Designer, Artist, Cartoonist
Notable Works	Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series) and Poptropica (game)
Wife	Julia "Julie" Kinney
Children	Will and Grant Kinney

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

Early life

Kinney was born and raised in Fort Washington, Maryland. He had two brothers and a sister. He attended the University of Maryland, 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 series

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 many kids around the world play. 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 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 currently 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 be based on his younger brother, Pat. His great-grandmother was Polish.

Publications

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (April 1^st, 2007)
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (February 1^st, 2008)
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (January 13^th, 2009)
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (October 12^th, 2009)
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (November 9^th, 2010)
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (November 15^th, 2011)
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel (November 13^th, 2012)
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (November 5^th, 2013)
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (November 4^th, 2014)
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School (November 3^rd, 2015)
11. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down (November 1^st, 2016)
12. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway (November 7^th, 2017)
13. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown (October 30^th, 2018)
14. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball (November 5^th, 2019)
15. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End (October 27^th, 2020)
16. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot (October 26^th, 2021)
17. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Diper Överlöde (October 25^th, 2022)
18. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: No Brainer (October 24^th, 2023)

Rowley Jefferson

1. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson's Journal (April 9^th, 2019)
2. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (August 4^th, 2020)
3. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories (March 16^th, 2021)

Supplementary books

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Do-It-Yourself Book (October 1^st, 2009)
2. The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (Original: March 16^th, 2010, 1st Revised Edition: February 15^th, 2011, 2nd Revised Edition: June 26^th, 2012)
3. The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (May 10^th, 2011)
4. The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: The Next Chapter (May 9^th, 2017)

Films

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

Year	Film	Notes
2010	Diary of a Wimpy Kid	Based on his novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
2011	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules	Based on his novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw.
2012	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days	Based on his novels, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.
2017	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul	Based on his novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul.
2021	Diary of a Wimpy Kid	Based on his novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
2022	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules	Based on his novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Gallery

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  Jeff Kinney signing books.

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  Jeff Kinney with Robert Capron and Robert Capron Sr (Robert's father).

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  Jeff Kinney himself.

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  Kinney at a book signing event.

PDF for all books