MacHale was born on March 11, 1956 in Greenwich, Connecticut. During his time at Greenwich High School, he reportedly had multiple part-time jobs and was on two sports teams (football and track).

Upon graduation, MacHale attended New York University and got a BFA in film production. He never enjoyed writing thependragonadventure.com :: View topic - Frequently asked questions about D.J until college, where his screenwriting teacher (Pat Cooper) changed his outlook Powells.com Ink Q&A - D. J. MacHale.

MacHale won the CableACE Award for his series Chris Cross and the Gemini Award for Are you Afraid of the Dark?. D.J. MacHaleMacHale won a Cableace nomination for The Tale of Cutter's Treasure, a Gemini nomination for The tale of the Dangerous Soup, a Writer's Guild of America nomination and a Director's Guild of America nomination for his popular kids TV Series, Flight 29 Down, and a Cableace nomination for Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective, a book series.

The books to be published under a new agreement with Simon & Schuster include:

• The Equinox Curiosity Shop is an action-oriented fantasy series for younger middle-grade readers set to launch in Fall 2009, which is about a toy shop that comes to life twice a year.
• The Morpheus Road Trilogy was launched on April 20th, 2010. The first book in the trilogy is called "The Light". It is about a teenage boy who is haunted by ghosts. The second book in the trilogy is named "The Black"
• The Monster Princess is MacHale's first picture book and features an ugly monster girl who lives in a cave beneath a castle and longs to become a beautiful princess.