A native of Laguna Beach, California, Gregory Widen holds a master's degree from UCLA and once worked full-time as a city firefighter.

[2] The original movie became a cult classic, spawning five sequels and Highlander: The Series, tie-in novels and video games.

He witnessed a person being killed by an explosive backdraft, which became the basis for the screenplay he wrote for the movie Backdraft, directed by Ron Howard and starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro.

In 1995, Widen wrote and directed the supernatural thriller The Prophecy starring Christopher Walken, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen.

Film Direct-to-video Television In 2013 he released his debut novel, Blood Makes Noise published by Thomas & Mercer.