Stephen McDannell Hillenburg, was born on 21 August 1961, in Lawton, Oklahoma, USA. Stephen is both a film director and producer, and also a famous marine biologist. Stephen is perhaps best known for creating the Nickelodeon animated series “SpongeBob Square Pants”.
So how rich is Stephen Hillenburg? Sources have estimated that Stephen’s net worth is $90 million, a sum which increases steadily with incomes from directorial film projects and voice acting, as well as his work as a marine biologist.
Stephen Hillenburg Net Worth $90 Million
Stephen Hillenburg spent his childhood in Anaheim, California. His father Kelly worked for aerospace companies – including on the Apollo project – and his mother, Nancy was a teacher of the visually impaired. In 1984, Stephen graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in marine resource planning and interpretation, and subsequently became a teacher of marine biology at the Ocean Institute in California. Stephen Hillenburg also graduated in animation from California Institute of the Arts, after which Stephen’s net worth started increasing because of his work in the film industry. Stephen started working as a co-writer and co-producer of the famous television series “Rocko`s Modern Life” along with its creator Joel Murray.
His successful beginning with “Rocko`s Modern Life” led Stephen Hillenburg to his own project, creating the animated television series “SpongeBob SquarePants”. It started running in 1999 and continues to be aired until today on the Nickelodeon Channel. This children`s comedy series is voiced by Tom Kenny, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence and many others, and has been acknowledged as the highest rated show ever aired on Nickelodeon, and has also been widely distributed on MTV Networks International. The “SpongeBob SquarePants” series has earned Stephen six Annie Awards, as well as one Emmy Award.
“SpongeBob SquarePants” was produced by United Plankton Pictures, a production company founded in 1998 by Stephen Hillenburg. Stephen also voiced the character of Potty the Parrot. Hillenburg was a writer, an executive producer, a showrunner and a storyboard director of “SpongeBob SquarePants”. Following the cultural and financial success of this series, Hillenburg decided to create a movie, a film adaptation of “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”, which considerably enlarged Stephen Hillenburg’s net worth and rewarded him with an Annie Award for Directing in a Feature Position.
There are no doubts “SpongeBob SquarePants” series and movie has been the greatest source of the revenues that came to Stephen Hillenburg’s net worth. However, the famous film producer has contributed to the production and distribution of other movies, too. Stephen directed and composed the animated short film “The Green Beret” released in 1991, and added further incomes to his net worth when he wrote “Mother Goose and Grimm” (1991) and directed “Wormholes” (1992), which gained Stephen an award for Best Concept at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Hillenburg is also a story writer and executive producer of “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water”, an animated movie based on the television series, which is going to be released in 2015.
As regards Stephen Hillenburg`s personal life, the celebrity has been married to Karen Hillenburg, who is a chef and also teaches at a cooking school, since 1994. In 1998, the Hillenburgs welcomed a son and named him Clay. Currently, the family lives in San Marino, Southern California. Stephen has many hobbies, including scuba diving, snorkeling and surfing. The famous film director loves painting surreal seascapes, and he even claims these paintings are kind of personal.
Animator, Television producer, Television Director, Screenwriter, Voice Actor, Marine biologist, Film director, Film Score Composer, Storyboard Artist, Soundtrack Composer
Education
Humboldt State University
Nationality
United States of America
Spouse
Karen Hillenburg
Children
Clay Hillenburg
Parents
Kelly N. Hillenburg, Jr, Nancy Hillenburg
Nicknames
Stephen McDannell Hillenburg , Stephen Hillenberg , Stephen Hilleburg , Steve Hillenburg , Steven Hillenburg , Hillenburg, Stephen , Stephen McDannell "Steve" Hillenburg
Annie Award for Directing in a Feature Position, Emmy Award
Music Groups
Loser
Nominations
Annie Awards, Emmy Award
Movies
“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water”, “The Green Beret” (1991)
TV Shows
“Rocko`s Modern Life”, “SpongeBob SquarePants”,
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Quote
1
Working as a marine science educator, I had the chance to see how enamored kids are with undersea life, especially tide pool creatures. By combining this knowledge with my love for animation, I came up with SpongeBob SquarePants.
2
Even the villainous Plankton, he's still flawed and you still root for him in a way, and the style of humor is simple and it's about human behavior, and everybody can identify with that.
3
At first I drew a few natural sponges -- amorphous shapes, blobs -- which was the correct thing to do biologically as a marine science teacher. Then I drew a square sponge and it looked so funny. I think as far as cartoon language goes he was easier to recognize. He seemed to fit the character type I was looking for. [Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2001]
4
When you set out to do a show about a sponge, you don't expect the kind of appeal that he's had. [Detroit News, August 8, 2002]
5
I think the connection to SpongeBob is that sponges are the most elastic, changing, plastic creatures . . . and I wanted him to be able to do things that were really magical. So [SpongeBob] has these really creative moments when he can re-form himself. But most sponges in the ocean are sedentary: They attach themselves to a rock and sit and filter-feed the rest of their lives, and reproduce, and that's about it. Not that they are not interesting, but they are not . . . mobile. They don't cook Krabbie Patties! [Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2001]
6
[when asked why the octopus has six tentacles instead of eight:] "Technically I just thought he'd be a little too cumbersome as a character to have too many legs visible. Maybe that's why he's so angry!"
7
Our characters act silly, even totally ridiculous at times, and most of our jokes don't come out of pop cultural references. It seems like we're aiming at a child audience, everyone can laugh at the basic human traits that are funny. It's playful, the humor is playful, the world is playful.
8
We want the show to be really funny. But I think in the end the message is: Treat people the way you expect to be treated. And another connection to any sort of message is that a lot of the stories come out of the personal experience I and the other writers had as kids--the harsh lessons in life which are usually very funny in retrospect, like maybe what happens when you learn your first curse word and you don't know what it means. [Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2001]
9
"There is something kind of unique about [SpongeBob]. It seems to be a refreshing breath from the pre-irony era. There's no sense of the elbow-in-rib, tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that so permeates the rest of American culture -- including kids' shows like the Rugrats. I think what's subversive about it is it's so incredibly naive -- deliberately. Because there's nothing in it that's trying to be hip or cool or anything else, hipness can be grafted onto it." -- Robert Thompson, professor at the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, in the New York Times, July 21, 2002.
#
Fact
1
As a child he loved the films of Jacques Cousteau, so Stephen Hillenburg earned a degree in natural-resource planning and interpretation, with an emphasis in marine resources from Humboldt State University (Arcata, Calif.) in 1984. For three years he taught marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute (now known as the Orange County Ocean Institute), in Dana Point, California. He had always enjoyed drawing and painting, so he pursued a master's-degree program in experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia. All these experiences came together to create SpongeBob SquarePants.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
SpongeBob SquarePants
TV Series creator - 216 episodes, 1999 - 2016 writer - 34 episodes, 1999 - 2004 written by - 2 episodes, 1999
Smurfs-Parody
2015
Short characters
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
2015
series "SpongeBob SquarePants" / story
Spongebob Squarepants 4D Attraction: The Great Jelly Rescue
2013
creator
Nicktoons MLB
2011
Video Game characters: Spongebob, Patrick, Sandy, Larry the Lobster & The Flying Dutchman
SpongeBob SquarePants: Spongicus
2009
Video
SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom
2008
Video Game characters: SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles, Plankton, Gary the Snail - uncredited
SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis
2008
Video Game characters - uncredited
Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots
2007
Video Game characters: SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star - uncredited
Diggs Tailwagger
2007
TV Movie additional writing
Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island
2006
Video Game characters: SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Squidward Tentacles - uncredited
SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!
2005
Video Game characters - uncredited
Nicktoons Unite
2005
Video Game characters: SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Plankton, Gary the Snail - uncredited
SpongeBob SquarePants: A Day in the Life of a Sponge
2004
Video Game characters - uncredited
The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie
2004
Video Game characters - uncredited
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004
story / television series SpongeBob SquarePants / written by
SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D Ride
2004
Short characters
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
2003
Video Game characters - uncredited
Nickelodeon Toon Twister 3D
2003
Video Game
SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman
2002
Video Game characters - uncredited
SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month
2002
Video Game characters - uncredited
SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge
2001
Video Game characters - uncredited
Rocko's Modern Life
TV Series additional writing - 18 episodes, 1993 - 1996 story - 8 episodes, 1994 - 1996 writer - 3 episodes, 1996
writer: "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme", "Squeeze Me"
Tower Heist
2011
writer: "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme"
The Karate Kid
2010
writer: "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme"
Parenthood
2010
TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Troop
2010
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Alvin and the Chipmunks
2007
writer: "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme"
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004
movie version, "SpongeBob SquarePants Theme" , "Goofy Goober Song", "Song Dedicated to the Giant Squid of the World", "Now That We're Men" / lyrics: "Goofy Goober Rock" a derivative of "I Wanna Rock"
Malcolm in the Middle
2004
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
SpongeBob SquarePants 3
2019
executive producer announced
SpongeBob SquarePants
1999-2016
TV Series executive producer - 191 episodes
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
2015
executive producer
Hollywood Blvd, USA
2014
Short producer
SpongeBob SquarePants: Spongicus
2009
Video executive producer
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004
producer
Rocko's Modern Life
1996
TV Series creative producer - 13 episodes
Animation Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
SpongeBob SquarePants
TV Series original character designer - 116 episodes, 1999 - 2016 original character design - 1 episode, 2015 animator - 1 episode, 2006
SpongeBob SquarePants: Spongicus
2009
Video original character designer
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Blvd, USA
2014
Short
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
2006
Video Game
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004
Nickelodeon Toon Twister 3D
2003
Video Game
Rocko's Modern Life
1993-1996
TV Series 20 episodes
Wormholes
1992
Short
The Green Beret
1992
Short
Art Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
SpongeBob SquarePants
TV Series original character design - 6 episodes, 2007 - 2015 storyboard director - 1 episode, 1999
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004
storyboards
Rocko's Modern Life
1994-1996
TV Series storyboard artist - 13 episodes
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Rocko's Modern Life
1996
TV Series creative director - 13 episodes
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
2015
Baby in Stroller (voice)
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
2004
Parrot (voice)
SpongeBob SquarePants
2000-2004
TV Series
Potty / Miner / Party Extra / ...
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
SpongeBob SquarePants
TV Series lyrics - 4 episodes, 2011 composer - 1 episode, 2007 performer - 1 episode, 2002
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Green Beret
1992
Short
Sound Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Vermin
1998/II
sound transferer
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Egg Cetera
2015
TV Series special thanks - 1 episode
The Little Prince
2015/I
the director and the producers wish to thank
Truth Has Fallen
2013
Documentary special thanks
The Mighty B!
2008
TV Series special thanks - 1 episode
Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots
2007
Video Game special thanks
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
2003
Video Game special thanks
SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge
2001
Video Game special thanks
Greener
1994
Short lots of thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Meus Prêmios Nick 2010
2010
TV Movie
Himself
Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants
2009
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Case of the Sponge 'Bob'
2005
Video documentary short
Himself (voice)
Everybody's Talking: The Voices of Spongebob Squarepants
2003
Video documentary short
Himself
The Origin of Spongebob Squarepants
2003
Video documentary short
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2013
ASCAP Award
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
Top Television Series
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2012
ASCAP Award
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
Top Television Series
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2011
ASCAP Award
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
Top TV Series
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2010
Daytime Emmy
Daytime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Special Class Animated Program
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
1992
Best Concept
Ottawa International Animation Festival
Wormholes (1992)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2016
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Short Form Animated Program
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2012
Daytime Emmy
Daytime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Children's Animated Program
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2011
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2009
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Special Class - Short-Format Animated Programs
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2008
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2007
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2005
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2005
Annie
Annie Awards
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)
2004
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2003
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
2002
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Children's Program
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
1995
CableACE
CableACE Awards
Animated Programming Special or Series
Rocko's Modern Life (1993)
Known for movies
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) as Writer
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-2016) as Writer
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) as Writer