“I make animation because I like to draw and create things. I have no real interest to be on camera or to be a celebrity. It”
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Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen McDannell Hillenburg was an American animator, writer, producer, director, voice actor, and marine biology educator. He is best known for creating the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants for Nickelodeon in 1999. The show has become the fourth longest-running American animated series. He also provided the original voice of Patchy the Pirate's pet, Potty the Parrot.
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culture · American animator and educator (1961–2018) · film producer · film director · screenwriter · animator · university teacher · actor · voice actor · painter · comics artist · biologist · also Stephen Hillenburg, Steve Hilleburg, Stephen Hillenberg, Steve Hillenburg, Stephen McDannell Hillenburg, Stephen M. Hillenburg
Born 21 August 1961 · Died 26 November 2018 · Q318750
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2026· 3 entries
“[Engel] also was a painter, so I think he saw my paintings and could easily say,”
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“provided a view into that world”
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2021· 1 entry
Hillenburg was honored with a bench and historical plaque at his alma mater Savannah High School in Anaheim, California
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2019· 3 entries
People: 'SpongeBob' Cast Reveals Late Creator Stephen Hillenburg Secretly Appears in Every Episode
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A spin-off of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kamp Koral, began production, featuring younger versions of the characters attending summer camp
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Followed by the third theatrical film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, in 2020
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2018· 15 entries
Yahoo: SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Stephen Hillenburg's Ashes Scattered at Sea
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Fox News: 'SpongeBob SquarePants' brought me back to my youth, rest in peace Stephen Hillenburg
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PopSugar: Fans Honor SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Stephen Hillenburg With Sweet Meme Tributes
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Newsweek: Who Voices Spongebob? What Tom Kenny Said About Stephen Hillenburg Before He Died
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KQED: We've Lost Stephen Hillenburg, But SpongeBob SquarePants Memes Will Live Forever
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Teen Vogue: "Spongebob Squarepants" Creator Stephen Hillenburg Has Died at 57
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popcrush: ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ Creator Stephen Hillenburg Dead at 57
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Cartoon Brew: Stephen Hillenburg, Creator Of ‘Spongebob Squarepants,’ Dies At 57
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Died 2018-11-26.
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Awarded Winsor McCay Award presented by ASIFA-Hollywood for SpongeBob SquarePants (2018).
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Awarded Daytime Emmy Award for SpongeBob SquarePants (2018).
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Hillenburg received the Winsor McCay Award at the 45th Annie Awards, and a special recognition at the 45th Daytime Emmy Awards "for his contribution and impact made in the animation field and within the broadcast industr
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To support the university's marine-science research students
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Donations to the latter helped fund the HSU Marine Lab and the Stephen Hillenburg Marine Science Research Award Endowment, which the couple created in 2018 to support the university's marine-science research students.
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“People have to come together and realize how important our oceans are. One thing I’m hoping will come out of the documentary is the realization that the show came from something that’s precious, and that we need to appreciate it. … Hopefully, if you watch ‘SpongeBob,’ you see the plankton and the crabs and starfish, and you’ll want to take care of our oceans.”
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2017· 1 entry
But continued working on SpongeBob for as long as possible
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2015· 1 entry
To positive critical reception, currently holding a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 80 percent and an average rating of 6
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2014· 2 entries
Tibbitt announced on his Twitter account that Hillenburg would return to the show
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“Actually when [the film] wraps, I want to get back to the show. ... it is getting harder and harder to come up with stories. So Paul [Tibbitt] and I are really going to brainstorm and come up with fresh material.”
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2013· 1 entry
Three years after production began, Hollywood Blvd
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2012· 1 entry
“I hope to get [the film] done. It takes forever.”
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2011· 1 entry
And officially announced the following year, with Tibbitt as director
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2010· 1 entry
Awarded Daytime Emmy Award for SpongeBob SquarePants (2010).
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2009· 1 entry
“s tenth anniversary. Its popularity has made it a media franchise, which is the most-distributed property of MTV Networks. As of 2015, it has generated $25 billion in merchandising revenue. Departure In 2002, Hillenburg halted production of the show after the third season was completed to focus on the making of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie which was released in 2004:”
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2007· 1 entry
Awarded British Academy Children's Awards presented by British Academy of Film and Television Arts for SpongeBob SquarePants (2007).
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2005· 1 entry
Named after Hillenburg's United Plankton Pictures
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2003· 2 entries
“They funded one of the projects I”
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During the production of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, his mentor Jules Engel died at the age of 94
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2002· 3 entries
“The show was such a cash cow for the station that it couldn”
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Hillenburg halted production of the show after the third season was completed to focus on the making of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie which was released in 2004: "I don't want to try and do a movie and the series at th
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SpongeBob SquarePants won its first TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming nomination
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2001· 1 entry
Heal the Bay, an environmental nonprofit organization, honored Hillenburg with its Walk the Talk award
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1999· 1 entry
And officially premiered on July 17 of the same year
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1998· 2 entries
Hillenburg formed United Plankton Pictures, Inc
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Hillenburg married Karen Jean Umland, a chef who taught at the New School of Cooking in Culver City
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1995· 1 entry
During the fourth and final season of Rocko, Hillenburg was promoted to creative director, where he helped oversee pre- and post-production
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1994· 2 entries
Hillenburg began developing The Intertidal Zone characters and concepts for what became SpongeBob SquarePants, which has aired continuously since 1999
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Hillenburg began to further develop some characters from The Intertidal Zone, including Bob the Sponge, who resembles a realistic sea sponge; at first, Hillenburg continued this design because it "was the correct thing t
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1992· 3 entries
Studied at California Institute of the Arts, Master of Fine Arts (1989–1992).
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One of Hillenburg's early works, Wormholes, won for Best Concept at the Ottawa International Animation Festival
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Earning a Master of Fine Arts in experimental animation
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1991· 1 entry
To the Princess Grace Foundation, which assists emerging artists in American theater, dance, and film
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1989· 1 entry
“Changing careers like that is scary, but the irony is that animation is a pretty healthy career right now and science education is more of a struggle.”
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1984· 4 entries
Earned his bachelor's degree in natural-resource planning and interpretation, with an emphasis on marine resources
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Including as a park service attendant in Utah and an art director in San Francisco, before landing the job he wanted: teaching children
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Studied at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, bachelor's degree (1984).
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Instructing marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute, where he wrote and illustrated The Intertidal Zone, an informative picture book about tide-pool animals, which he used to educate his students
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1961· 2 entries
At Fort Sill, a United States Army base in Lawton, Oklahoma, where his father, Kelly Nathaniel Hillenburg Jr
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Born 1961-08-21.
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