[close] As a child, John lived in the same apartment building as author Ayn Rand. His father was a professor of Statistics at Baruch College; his mother was a librarian at the New York Public Library. He attended Choate Rosemary Hall and Columbia University, where he was a DJ and student TV producer, respectively. During college, he worked for NBC and Marvel Comics. Since 1993, he has written and produced documentaries. Starting as one of the youngest producers on the acclaimed "Biography" series, he spent 10 years profiling classic Hollywood stars, netting a CableAce nomination and a Prism Commendation. He was the only non-executive interviewed for the series' 15th anniversary retrospective in 2002. Griffin has also written and produced for Turner Classic Movies, ABC, Dick Clark Productions, the History Channel, and the Game Show Network. His most recent work has been for the E! channel, on their long-running "True Hollywood Story" program. He also produced segments for the THS anthology spinoff, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," which just earned a 2008 Prism Nomination. From 2000 to 2002, he was half of an experimental noise band called "Cruelty Campaign," whose CD "Distressed Signals," was released on the German label Tesco. Cruelty Campaign played numerous dates in California and the southwest, and participated in Tesco's 2001 "God Blast America" East Coast tour. Griffin wrote a music column for Outburn magazine; this is his first book. [close]