Jeffrey Stepakoff was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received a BA in Journalism. In 1988, the day after getting his MFA in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon, he drove to Hollywood where he began writing for film and television.

Jeffrey has “written by” or “story by” credits on thirty-six television episodes, has written for fourteen different series and has worked on seven primetime staffs, producing hundreds of hours of internationally-recognized television, including the Emmy-winning THE WONDER YEARS, SISTERS, WILD CARD, HYPERION BAY, THE MAGIC SCHOOL, C16: FBI, ROBIN’S HOODS, LAND’S END, FLIPPER, SONS & DAUGHTERS, MAJOR DAD, THE YAKOV SMIRNOFF SHOW, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, HAVE FAITH, SIMON& SIMON, and DAWSON’S CREEK where he was Co-Executive Producer.

Stepakoff has also created and developed pilots for many of the major studios and networks, including 20th Century, Paramount, MTM, Fox and ABC. And he has developed and written major motion pictures, including Disney’s TARZAN and BROTHER BEAR, and EM Entertainment’s LAPITCH, THE LITTLE SHOEMAKER, Croatia’s selection for the 1998 Academy Awards.

A few years ago, Stepakoff returned to Atlanta, where he lives with his wife and three young children, and began writing fiction. FIREWORKS OVER TOCCOA, first published by St. Martin's Press in 2010, is his debut novel. A Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance "Okra" Pick and an ABA Indie Next List Notable, FIREWORKS is available in hardback, trade paperback, large print, audio and digital forms. The novel was also an Avant Premiere (featured pick) for France Loisirs (the French Book club). Stepakoff's second novel, THE ORCHARD, also a SIBA Pick, was released in North America in July 2011. READER'S DIGEST will release their version in October 2011's SELECT EDITIONS. Stepakoff's fiction is available in eleven languages, as well as in editions for all the major bookclubs, including The Literary Guild, Doubleday and Book-of-the-Month Club.

Presently, he speaks around the country, teaches dramatic writing at Kennesaw State University, and is hard at work on his third novel for St. Martin’s Press. In his spare time, he builds forts in living room with sofa cushions.