51 Facts About Stephen Hillenburg

Stephen McDannell Hillenburg was an American animator, writer, producer, director, and marine science educator.

Stephen Hillenburg is known for creating the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, on which he served as the showrunner for the first three seasons of the show, and which has become the fifth-longest-running American animated series.

Stephen Hillenburg started his professional career in 1984, instructing marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute, where he wrote The Intertidal Zone, an informative picture book about tide-pool animals, which he used to educate his students.

Stephen Hillenburg was later offered a job on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rocko's Modern Life after his success with The Green Beret and Wormholes, short films that he made while studying animation.

In 1994, Stephen Hillenburg began developing The Intertidal Zone characters and concepts for what became SpongeBob SquarePants, which has aired continuously since 1999.

Stephen Hillenburg directed The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which he originally intended to be the series finale.

Stephen Hillenburg then resigned as showrunner, but Nickelodeon continued to produce more episodes after he left the series.

Stephen Hillenburg co-wrote the story for the second film adaptation of the series, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, released in 2015.

Besides his two Emmy Awards and six Annie Awards for SpongeBob SquarePants, Stephen Hillenburg received other recognition, such as an accolade from Heal the Bay for his efforts in elevating marine life awareness and the Television Animation Award from the National Cartoonists Society.

Stephen Hillenburg announced he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2017 but stated he would continue working on SpongeBob SquarePants as long as possible.

Stephen Hillenburg died from the disease on November 26,2018, at the age of 57.

Stephen McDannell Hillenburg was born on August21,1961 at Fort Sill, a United States Army post in Lawton, Oklahoma, where his father, Kelly N Hillenburg Jr.

Stephen Hillenburg said that Cousteau "provided a view into that world", which he had not known existed.

Stephen Hillenburg developed his interest in art at a young age.

Stephen Hillenburg liked it because, I mean, obviously that was in the middle of [the Vietnam War].

Stephen Hillenburg was, I would imagine, not a hundred percent for the war like a lot of people then.

Stephen Hillenburg asserted that his artistry came from his mother's side, despite his father being a draftsman, noting that his maternal grandmother was "really, really gifted" and a "great painter".

Stephen Hillenburg was "knocked out" by the foreign animated films, including Dutch animator Paul Driessen's The Killing of an Egg.

Stephen Hillenburg attended Savanna High School in Anaheim, describing himself as a "band geek" who played the trumpet.

At age 15, he snorkeled for the first time; Stephen Hillenburg took part in a "dive program" at Woods Coves in Laguna Beach, as part of the Regional Occupational Program at Savanna.

Stephen Hillenburg went to Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, as a marine-science major.

Stephen Hillenburg hoped to work in a national park on the coast, and eventually found a job at the Orange County Marine Institute, an organization in Dana Point, California, dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history.

Stephen Hillenburg created a comic called The Intertidal Zone, which he used to teach his students.

Stephen Hillenburg tried to get the comic published, but the publishers he approached turned him down.

Stephen Hillenburg determined that he wanted to pursue a career in that field.

Stephen Hillenburg had planned to take a master's degree in art, but instead of "going back to school for painting", he left his job in 1987 to become an animator.

Stephen Hillenburg made his first animated works, short films The Green Beret and Wormholes, while at CalArts.

Stephen Hillenburg described the latter as "a poetic animated film based on relativistic phenomena" in his grant proposal in 1991 to the Princess Grace Foundation, which assists emerging artists in American theater, dance, and film.

Stephen Hillenburg made at least one other short film as an animation student, but its title is unspecified.

Stephen Hillenburg "ended up finding work in the industry and got a job" at the television network after he met the show's creator, Joe Murray, at the 1992 Ottawa International Animation Festival, where Wormholes and Murray's My Dog Zero were both in competition.

Stephen Hillenburg worked closely with Murray on Rocko's Modern Life for its whole run on the air.

In particular, the third season episode "Fish-N-Chumps" was co-written and directed by Stephen Hillenburg, and involved Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt going on a fishing trip, oblivious to the fact that a pair of anthropomorphic sea creatures are attempting to catch them from underwater; this would foreshadow his later work with SpongeBob.

In 1995, during the fourth and final season of Rocko, Stephen Hillenburg was promoted to creative director, where he helped oversee pre- and post-production.

Stephen Hillenburg later related that he "learned a great deal about writing and producing animation for TV" from his stint on Rocko's Modern Life.

Stephen Hillenburg claimed that he finally decided to create a series as he was driving to the beach on the Santa Monica Freeway one day.

Stephen Hillenburg directed the film from a story that he conceived with five other writer-animators from the series: Paul Tibbitt, Derek Drymon, Aaron Springer, Kent Osborne, and Tim Hill.

Tibbitt started out as a supervising producer but rose up to executive producer when Stephen Hillenburg went into semi-retirement in 2004.

Stephen Hillenburg helped to write Diggs Tailwagger, a 2007 pilot by Derek Drymon.

Stephen Hillenburg stated in 2009 that he was developing two other television projects that he did not want to discuss.

In 1998, Stephen Hillenburg married Karen Umland, a Southern Californian chef who teaches at the New School of Cooking in Culver City.

Stephen Hillenburg deemed her the funniest person he knew, and the character of Karen Plankton was named after her.

Stephen Hillenburg formerly resided in Hollywood and Pasadena, and lived with his family in San Marino, California until his death.

Stephen Hillenburg's hobbies included surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, and performing "noisy rock music" on his guitar.

Stephen Hillenburg was known informally as "Steve" among his family, friends, and fans.

Julia Pistor, co-producer of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, noted that Stephen Hillenburg was "very shy".

Stephen Hillenburg disclosed to Variety magazine in March 2017 that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, even though he continued to work on SpongeBob SquarePants for as long as he was able.

Stephen Hillenburg did not succumb to the disease until November 26,2018, at the age of 57.

Stephen Hillenburg is credited as the creator of Kamp Koral, and is credited on other spin-offs as the characters' creator.

Stephen Hillenburg was recognized for raising public awareness of marine life through SpongeBob SquarePants.

On November 18,2021, Stephen Hillenburg was honored with a bench and historical plaque at his alma mater Savannah High School in Anaheim, California.

Karen Stephen Hillenburg specifically chose a bright yellow bench that "she thought perfectly captured her husband's warmth and goofiness".