William Fagerbakke ( ; born October 4, 1957) is an American actor. He voices

Patrick Star Patrick Star is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. He is voiced by actor Bill Fagerbakke and was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. He first ...

in the ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' franchise, and played Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the sitcom ''

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

''. He also appeared in 12 episodes of the sitcom ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

'' as

Marshall Eriksen Marshall Eriksen is a fictional character on the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'', portrayed by Jason Segel. Series co-creator Craig Thomas explained that he based Marshall and Lily on himself and his wife Rebecca. Character overview The ...

's father Marvin.

Early life and education

Bill Fagerbakke was born on October 4, 1957, in

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It ...

, and moved to

Rupert, Idaho Rupert is the county seat and largest city of Minidoka County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Burley, Idaho, Burley Burley micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,082 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

, as a youth. He graduated from

Minico High School Minico High School, also known as Minidoka County High School, is a four-year public secondary school in unincorporated Minidoka County, Idaho, with a Rupert postal address, operated by the Minidoka County Joint School District #331. The sc ...

in Rupert in 1975, where he was a three-sport athlete for the Spartans in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and track. Although he had multiple scholarship offers for

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

, including

Pac-8 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

schools, Fagerbakke decided to stay in state and attended the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He was a

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

for the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

and was ticketed to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

in 1976, but was called into action in the fourth game of his sophomore season. The Vandals went 7–4 in

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, their first winning season in five years, and were 5–2 in the seven games that Fagerbakke started. Head coach

Ed Troxel Edward Ross Troxel (November 20, 1925 – January 22, 2001) was a high school and college football coach in Colorado, Idaho, and eastern Washington. His most notable coaching stops were at Borah High School in Boise, the University of I ...

planned on moving him to the offensive line in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

, but a knee injury in spring drills ended Fagerbakke's athletic career, which turned his focus to theater. Fagerbakke's first theatrical role was in a campus production of ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical in two acts with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set t ...

''. He was a member of the

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States–based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapt ...

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

and earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1981, a result of "two years of football and four years of school." He later attended graduate school at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Career

Fagerbakke has appeared on television in roles such as

assistant coach An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ul ...

"Dauber" Dybinski on ''

'', and in films, including ''

Funny Farm A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with c ...

''. He had a role as the mentally disabled Tom Cullen in the 1994

mini-series In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

'' Stephen King's The Stand''. In 1999, he had a role in

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's original series '' Oz'' as Officer Karl Metzger. Since 1999, he has provided the voice of Patrick Star for the

Nicktoon Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

''. His character on ''Coach'' was based on a former assistant coach at Idaho, a graduate assistant nicknamed "Tuna." In 2007, he made a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

on the show ''

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

'' as Steve Gustavson in the episodes "Run" and "Unexpected." In 2009, he had a role in the film ''

Jennifer's Body ''Jennifer's Body'' is a 2009 American comedy horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody. Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Adam Brody, the film follows Jennifer Chec ...

''. He also played the role of Marvin Eriksen Sr. in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

sitcom ''

''. In 2012, he made a cameo appearance in the TV show ''

Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...

''. In 2022, Fagerbakke guest-starred in the fifth season of ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

'' as Peter de Viblis. His daughter Carson portrays Peter's daughter Patty.

Personal life

In 1989, Fagerbakke married actress Catherine McClenahan, with whom he had two daughters, one of which is actress Carson Fagerbakke. In September 2012, he filed for legal separation from McClenahan, citing

irreconcilable differences The concept of irreconcilable differences provides possible grounds for divorce in the United States of America and Australia, among other jurisdictions. Australia Australian family law uses a no-fault divorce approach, and irreconcilable differe ...

Filmography

Television voice roles

Video games

Television live action roles

Film

Other

* ''

Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida that replaced The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera based on the 2001 movie '' Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' and it is set to take place after the events of the film. ...

'' (2003) - Patrick Star * '' SpongeBob SquarePants 4D: The Great Jelly Rescue'' (2013) - Patrick Star

Accolades

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fagerbakke, Bill 1957 births 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors American male comedians American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male television actors American male video game actors American male voice actors Comedians from California Comedians from Idaho Idaho Vandals football players Living people Male actors from California Male actors from Idaho Nickelodeon people People from Fontana, California People from Rupert, Idaho Southern Methodist University alumni University of Idaho alumni