Bill Fagerbakke

Bill Fagerbakke is an American actor born on October 4, 1957, in Fontana, California, who later relocated to Rupert, Idaho, during his youth. He is best known for voicing Patrick Star in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise and for his television role as assistant coach Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the sitcom Coach.

Fagerbakke graduated from Minico High School in Rupert in 1975, where he competed in football, basketball, and track for the Spartans. Despite receiving multiple college football scholarship offers, including from Pac-8 programs, he chose to attend the University of Idaho in Moscow. Playing defensive lineman for the Vandals, he was initially set to redshirt in 1976 but entered the lineup during his sophomore season's fourth game. The Vandals finished 7–4 that year, their first winning season in five years, going 5–2 in the seven games Fagerbakke started. A knee injury sustained during spring drills in 1977 ended his athletic career and redirected his attention toward theater. His first stage role came in a campus production of Godspell. A member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, he earned his bachelor's degree from Idaho in 1981 and subsequently attended graduate school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Fagerbakke made his Broadway debut in 1987 in The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. His stage work extended beyond Broadway; in 1997 he returned to the University of Idaho to perform in benefit productions of Love Letters, staged by the Idaho Repertory Theatre in support of the university's theater program.

On television, his first appearance came in the sitcom Perfect Strangers in 1984. His recurring role as "Dauber" Dybinski on Coach, a character modeled on a former Idaho graduate assistant nicknamed "Tuna," brought him wide recognition. He portrayed the mentally disabled Tom Cullen in the 1994 miniseries Stephen King's The Stand and played Alan Parish in the Jumanji animated series from 1996 to 1999. In 1999, he appeared as Officer Karl Metzger in HBO's Oz. He appeared in 12 episodes of How I Met Your Mother as Marvin Eriksen Sr., the father of Marshall Eriksen. In 2007, he made cameo appearances in Heroes as Steve Gustavson in the episodes "Run" and "Unexpected," and in 2012 he made a cameo in Weeds. In 2022, he guest-starred in the fifth season of Dynasty as Peter de Viblis; his daughter Carson appeared in the same season as Peter's daughter Patty.

Fagerbakke's film credits include Funny Farm, Loose Cannons, Halloween II, Rosewood Lane, Baby Makers, and Jennifer's Body, which was released in 2009. In animation, he has contributed voice work to Family Guy, American Dad, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Kim Possible, DuckTales, Young Justice, Transformers: Animated, Lloyd in Space, and Gargoyles, among others.

Since 1997, Fagerbakke has voiced Patrick Star for the Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants. He reprised the role in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, as well as in various video games and spinoffs. For the show's 20th anniversary in 2019, a television special titled "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" featured the main cast, including Fagerbakke, portraying live-action versions of their characters on screen together for the first time. During Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, broadcast on CBS with a simultaneous Nickelodeon alternative telecast, Fagerbakke voiced Patrick Star in real time alongside SpongeBob voice actor Tom Kenny, with both actors improvising in character and utilizing motion capture. Since 2021, Fagerbakke has led the SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff The Patrick Star Show.

Among his accolades, Fagerbakke won the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Animal Sidekick as Patrick Star in 2014 and was nominated in 2009 for Best Burp at the same awards, shared with Tom Kenny. He received nominations from the Behind the Voice Actors Awards in 2013 for Best Vocal Ensemble in a TV Series for SpongeBob SquarePants and in 2016 for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film for Sponge Out of Water. In 2012, he was nominated at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards for Best Acting Ensemble for The Artist. In 2019, he received the Animation Hall of Fame Game-Changers Award at the World Animation and VFX Summit for his work as Patrick Star.

Fagerbakke married actress Catherine McClenahan in 1989; the couple has two daughters, including actress Carson Fagerbakke. He filed for legal separation from McClenahan in September 2012, citing irreconcilable differences. He has lived in Los Angeles since filming Coach, though he returns to Idaho regularly.