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Stephen Hillenburg is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter, Producer and Thanks American born on 21 august 1961 at Lawton (USA)

Stephen Hillenburg

Stephen Hillenburg
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Birth name Stephen McDannell Hillenburg
Nationality USA
Birth 21 august 1961 at Lawton (USA)
Death 26 november 2018 (at 57 years)
Creator of United Plankton Pictures

Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (born August 21, 1961) is an American marine biologist, cartoonist, animator, director, producer, writer, and voice actor, who is best known for creating the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Born in Lawton, Oklahoma, Hillenburg grew up in Anaheim, California and attended Humboldt State University, earning a bachelor's degree in marine resource planning and interpretation in 1984. After graduating from college, Hillenburg taught marine biology at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.

In 1992 he enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to pursue a career in animation. After graduating from CalArts and changing careers, Hillenburg met Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life, and joined the show as a writer, producer, and storyboard artist. He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants in 1996 after Rocko's Modern Life was cancelled, asking Rocko's colleague Tom Kenny to voice the titular character. SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on May 1, 1999 and has since aired 193 episodes. Hillenburg also directed the film adaptation of the series, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, for which he received an Annie Award nomination in 2005 for Directing in a Feature Production. Once the film was completed, he resigned from the television show as the showrunner, appointing staff writer Paul Tibbitt to the position. He worked on the 2015 sequel as the executive producer and story writer.

Hillenburg has won two Emmy Awards and six Annie Awards for SpongeBob SquarePants. He has also received other awards such as the Heal the Bay's Walk the Talk Award for his efforts on elevating marine life awareness through SpongeBob SquarePants, and the Television Animation Award from the National Cartoonists Society. In 2002, he received the Statue Award in film from the Princess Grace Foundation. Hillenburg owns a production company called United Plankton Pictures whose primary productions are SpongeBob SquarePants and related media.

Biography

Hillenburg is married to Karen, a chef who teaches at a cooking school. The couple have a son named Clay (b. 1998). Hillenburg formerly resided in Pasadena, California, and currently lives with his family in San Marino in Southern California. His hobbies are surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving and playing "noisy rock music" on his guitar. He also paints "surreal seascapes" based on "something that's happened" and said that "there's something personal about it." Hillenburg is a big fan of the Australian band Tame Impala, calling them "these young guys reinvestigating psychedelic rock, and it does not seem ironic."

According to his colleagues, Hillenburg is "a perfectionist workaholic." Kenny called him "this sweet, soulful surfer/artist/animator/marine biologist." Julia Pistor, the producer of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and senior vice president of Nickelodeon Movies, said that "[h]e's very shy. He doesn't want people to know about his life or family. He's just a really funny, down-to-earth guy with a dry sense of humor who puts his family first and keeps us on our toes in keeping our corporate integrity."

Hillenburg considered Jules Engel (1909–2003), his mentor at CalArts, his "Art Dad". Hillenburg was accepted by Engel into the institute because he was impressed with Hillenburg's previous work. During the production of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Engel died at the age of 94. Hillenburg decided to dedicate the film in his memory, and said that "[h]e truly was the most influential artistic person in my life."


Lawsuit

In 2007, Troy Walker, a cartoonist from Fairfield, California, sued Hillenburg, claiming that the marine biologist stole his ideas from his 1991 comic strip, Bob Spongee, the Unemployed Sponge. Walker argued that the concept and design of Hillenburg's SpongeBob SquarePants character was lifted from his "Bob Spongee" homemade toy. In his original concept, Walker drew a face on a kitchen sponge and attached plastic googly eyes. He placed the model in a transparent bag that included the comic strip, and sold it in Northern California as collectibles at flea markets and through the mail in 1992. Walker claimed that he produced 1,000 of the "drawn-on" dolls. After learning about the show SpongeBob SquarePants in 2002, Walker concluded: "It obviously fell into the hands of one of the producers of the show. It's a clear pattern of duplication."

He filed the lawsuit against Hillenburg, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, and their parent company Viacom in a United States district court in San Francisco. He had demanded $1.6 billion in damages, and alleged that the accused used his idea without his permission. He said that "[t]hey took all of it." Walker said in his complaint that "[i]t is more than ironic that two working class sponges are named Bob. Both characters are unemployed. Both characters live in a house concept." In a public statement, Viacom stated that they believed that Walker's claim was "baseless". A settlement conference between Walker and Viacom, filed on May 13, 2008, was conducted at the Northern District Federal Courts in San Francisco. As a conclusion, the court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment.

Best films

Usually with

Paul Tibbitt
Paul Tibbitt
(4 films)
Tom Kenny
Tom Kenny
(4 films)
Doug Lawrence
Doug Lawrence
(4 films)
Derek Drymon
Derek Drymon
(1 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Stephen Hillenburg (5 films)

Display filmography as detailed form
YearNameJobRoles
2015The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of WaterActor, Story, Executive ProducerBaby in Stroller (voice)
2015The Little PrinceThanks
2009Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePantsActor, DirectorHimself
2007SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantisDirector, Executive producer
2004The SpongeBob SquarePants MovieActor, Director, Story, ProducerParrot (voice)