Dean Lorey is an American writer whose projects include movies such as Major Payne, television shows which include My Wife and Kids and Arrested Development, and most recently a children's book, the first of a series, entitled Nightmare Academy.

Lorey grew up in Conyers, Georgia before attending New York University's film school, where he wrote book cover copy for Simon and Schuster and Bantam as well as writing commercials for MTV and Nickelodeon. In 1990 he moved to California and wrote a script for the movie that would become My Boyfriend's Back, collaborating with Adam Marcus and Sean Cunningham. Afterward, Sean asked him to finish the screenplay for Jason Goes to Hell, in which he also had a cameo appearance. From there, he continued to write screenplays for movies as well as working on writing, directing, and producing for television.

Dean Lorey currently lives in Calabasas, California, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their sons, Chris and Alex. His first book came out on August 21, 2007. Universal has purchased the film rights to the book and the producers will be Stephen Sommers and Bob Ducsay, who worked on movies such as The Mummy.