About Greg

Greg Glienna is an American screenwriter, director, and actor best known as the original creator of Meet the Parents (1992). He wrote, directed, and starred in the original indie version, which gained critical acclaim in U.S. and UK art house cinemas before being discovered by director Steven Soderbergh and brought to Universal Pictures.

The film was remade into the 2000 blockbuster starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, launching a multi-billion-dollar franchise co-produced by Universal and DreamWorks. Glienna continues to be credited as the original creator in official announcements for Meet the Parents 4, Focker In-Law.

Glienna is widely recognized for his strength in writing emotionally grounded, character-driven stories that resonate across genres.

His screenwriting and directing credits include comedies Desperation Blvd. (1998) writer/director; starring Judy Tenuta, Emo Philips, Weird Al' Yankovic and former child stars Erin Moran, Burt Ward, and Dana Plato; and Relative Strangers (2006) writer/director; starring Danny DeVito, Kathy Bates, Neve Campbell, and Ron Livingston; distributed by Warner Independent Pictures and Momentum Pictures.

His romantic comedies are A Guy Thing (2003) original screenplay; produced by MGM, starring Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, and Selma Blair and Puppy Love (2023) first draft writer; produced by BuzzFeed Studios and Amazon MGM, starring Lucy Hale, Grant Gustin, and Jane Seymour; a drama about comedy, The Road Dog (2022) writer/director; starring Doug Stanhope, Tim Kazurinsky, and Greg Fitzsimmons, released by Byron Allen's Freestyle Digital Media.