Jeff Kinney is the author/illustrator of the New York Times #1 bestselling childrens series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He was born in College Park, Maryland in 1971, and attended the University of Maryland in the 1990s. Kinney aspired to a career in cartooning following the experiences of publishing his Igdoof comic strip in the campus newspaper. Kinney has worked as a computer programmer, online game developer, and designer. He originally developed the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series online in installments on Funbrain.com. In 2006, Kinney signed a publishing deal to turn his work into a print series. His title Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg Heffley Went Hollywood made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012.