Jeff Kinney Jeffrey Patrick "Jeff" Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American Boy 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, a 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.