Rodger Bumpass
Rodger Bumpass
SpongeBob SquarePants (Squidward)
This doodle has been drawn on a separate piece of paper which was then taped to Rodger's official National Doodle Day card.
Rodger Bumpass is an actor and voice performer who was born in Little Rock, AK. Along with numerous television and film roles, he has achieved fame as the voice of the character Squidward in the very popular SpongeBob SquarePants film and TV series.
He attended Little Rock Central High School, where he obtained his first experience in theater, primarily in the area of comedy. In high school, he attended a radio–TV competition at Arkansas State University, where he won the announcing contest. Upon graduation from Central High School in 1970, he decided to attend ASU, where he majored in radio–TV and minored in theater. He worked at the campus radio station and later found a job at Jonesboro’s ABC television affiliate, KAIT-TV.
At KAIT, he worked as an announcer, film processor, cameraman, audio technician, and technical director. He also won his own late-night comedy program called Mid-Century Nonsense Festival Featuring Kumquat Theater, for which he wrote and performed. After acting in a theatrical competition and being encouraged by an ASU professor to consider professional theater, he graduated from ASU in 1976 and left for New York in June 1977.
He auditioned and won a role in the National Lampoon’s music and comedy road show titled, That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick (1977–78). The show toured forty-five states and Rodger was often singled out for special praise in reviews of the show.
Rodger soon began appearing in movies such as Escape from New York and TV shows including Hart to Hart and Silk Stalkings. He also became greatly in demand for his voice work. He has voiced characters in films such as Heavy Metal, Hercules, A Bug’s Life, Tarzan, The Emperor’s New Groove, Monsters, Inc., Spirited Away, Treasure Planet, Shrek II, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Cars.
His TV voice work includes The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Batman: The Animated Series, Invader ZIM (as Professor Membrane), and beginning in 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants as Squidward Tentacles, a squid who seems annoyed by almost everything in the fictitious undersea world of Bikini Bottom in the Pacific Ocean.
Rodger continues to be in demand for both on-camera and voice work. He resides in Burbank, California with his wife, actress Amy Stiller, who is the older sister of actor Ben Stiller.
Rodger Bumpass at the Internet Movie Database