Personal details
Born:
- Birthday: 1961-08-21
- Born Place: Fort Sill, Oklahoma, USA
Deathday:
2018-11-26
Also Known As:
Stephen McDannell Hillenburg, Stephen Hilleburg
Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 – November 26, 2018) was an American animator, writer, producer, director, and marine science educator, best known as the creator of the iconic animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. Born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and raised in Anaheim, California, Hillenburg was inspired by Jacques Cousteau's films and developed a lifelong passion for the ocean, leading him to earn a degree in natural resource planning and interpretation with an emphasis on marine resources from Humboldt State University in 1984. He then spent several years teaching marine biology at what is now the Orange County Ocean Institute, where he created an educational comic book called The Intertidal Zone, featuring early versions of the sea creatures that would inspire his most famous characters.Hillenburg later decided to pursue his other passion, art, earning a Master of Fine Arts in experimental animation from the California Institute of the Arts in 1992. His short films gained him recognition, and he was hired by Nickelodeon to work on the animated series Rocko's Modern Life as a writer, producer, and director, where he befriended many future SpongeBob collaborators, including voice actor Tom Kenny. After Rocko's Modern Life ended in 1996, Hillenburg began developing his concept for an underwater series based on his comic book. The show, which premiered in 1999 as SpongeBob SquarePants, became a global cultural phenomenon, earning numerous awards and expanding into films and a Broadway musical. Hillenburg served as the showrunner for the first three seasons and directed The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) before stepping back to an executive producer role, though he later co-wrote the story for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015). Hillenburg was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in March 2017 and continued to work on the series until his death from complications of the disease on November 26, 2018, at the age of 57. He is survived by his wife, Karen Umland (for whom the character Karen on the show is named), and their son, Clay.
