Jeffrey Patrick "Jeff" Kinney is an American game designer and author of children's books, best known for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He is also credited with creating the children-oriented website Poptropica.

Kinney works full-time as a writer and designer of online games. He grew up in Fort Washington, Maryland, and attended the University of Maryland at College Park in the early 1990s. During college, he created the popular comic strip Igdoof that ran in the campus newspaper, The Diamondback. While there, he realized his ambition to become a cartoonist.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has sold over 42 million copies worldwide as of 2010 and has been adapted into a feature film. Kinney has also served as an executive producer for the film adaptations.

As of now, five Wimpy Kid books, a do-it-yourself book, and a movie diary have been released. In 2009, Kinney was named one of Time magazine's 100 "Most Influential People" in the world.

Kinney attended Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland, and currently resides in Plainville, Massachusetts, with his wife, Julie, and their two sons, Will and Grant.