Steven Kunes was born on September 7, 1956 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and attended New York University where he received B.A. degrees in Creative Writing and Comparative Literature in 1978.

In 1983, at age 26, TV legend Norman Lear hired Kunes to write and develop half-hour comedies for his company, Embassy Television. This led to assignments in the areas of one-hour TV, movies-of-the-week, a five-year stint writing monologues for Johnny Carson, and eventually to motion pictures, where Kunes became one of Hollywood's most respected script doctors.

In 2015, Kunes created the hit comedy series "Over My Dead Body," which streams on Amazon Prime. In 2018, his novel "Uncle Jerry to Win," his collection of plays "Four on the Floor," and his collection of screenplays "Pick Six: Six Screenplays" were published and are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Kunes has received many awards over the years and is an active member of the Writers Guild of America, the Authors Guild, the Dramatists Guild, PEN America, the TED Foundation, the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences (Emmys), and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (Oscars.)

One November 14, 2021, Kunes presented a TEDx talk in Philadelphia called "Square One at 60." He divides his time between Los Angeles and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.