William Fagerbakke ( ; born October 4, 1957) is an American actor. He voices Patrick Star in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise, and played Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the sitcom Coach. He also appeared in 12 episodes of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother as Marshall Eriksen's father Marvin.
Early life and education
Fagerbakke was born on October 4, 1957, in Fontana, California, and moved to Rupert, Idaho, as a youth. He graduated from Minico High School in Rupert in 1975, where he was a three-sport athlete for the Spartans in football, basketball, and track.
Although he had multiple scholarship offers for college football, including Pac-8 schools, Fagerbakke decided to stay in state and attended the University of Idaho in Moscow. The Vandals went 7–4 in 1976, their first winning season in five years, and were 5–2 in the seven games that Fagerbakke started. Head coach Ed Troxel planned on moving him to the offensive line in 1977, but a knee injury in spring drills ended Fagerbakke's athletic career, which turned his focus to theater. He later attended graduate school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Career
thumb|Fagerbakke in 2009
Fagerbakke has appeared on television in roles such as assistant coach "Dauber" Dybinski on Coach, and in films, including Funny Farm. He had a role as the mentally disabled Tom Cullen in the 1994 mini-series Stephen King's The Stand. From 1996 to 1999 he played Alan Parish in the Jumanji TV series. In 1999, he had a role in HBO's original series Oz as Officer Karl Metzger.
His character on Coach was based on a former assistant coach at Idaho, a graduate assistant nicknamed "Tuna."
He has appeared in numerous live action and animated films. With his first appearance coming in Perfect Strangers in 1984. He has since appeared in films such as Loose Cannons, Halloween II, Rosewood Lane and Baby Makers.
He has lent his voice to animated shows such as Family Guy, American Dad, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Kim Possible, Duck Tales and Young Justice. While having main roles on shows such as Transformers: Animated, Lloyd in Space and Gargoyles.
In 2007, he made a cameo appearance on the show Heroes as Steve Gustavson in the episodes "Run" and "Unexpected." In 2009, he had a role in the film Jennifer's Body. He also played the role of Marvin Eriksen Sr. in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. In 2012, he made a cameo appearance in the TV show Weeds.
Since 2021, Fagerbakke has been the lead role in the SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff The Patrick Star Show.
In 2022, Fagerbakke guest-starred in the fifth season of Dynasty as Peter de Viblis. His daughter Carson portrays Peter's daughter Patty.
SpongeBob SquarePants
Since 1997, he has provided the voice of Patrick Star for the Nicktoon SpongeBob SquarePants. His role as Patrick has become one of the most iconic in all of animation. He has also been compared to the character's real-life counterpart as show writer Kent Osborne once said of Fagerbakke, "He is this big guy, and he plays Patrick so well. He's just this big guy, and he lumbers around."
In 2004, Fagerbakke voiced Patrick in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, along with subsequent films The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. He also voices the character in video games and spinoffs.
The television show celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. In celebration, a television special was aired, titled "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout". One scene includes each of the show's main characters' voice actors portraying live-action versions of their characters. While not the first SpongeBob SquarePants episode that blended animated sequences with live-action characters, this was the first time that the characters' voice actors have played a live-action scene all together.
Super Bowl LVIII, which took place in 2024, was broadcast on CBS; the network's parent company Paramount also owns Nickelodeon, the network that airs SpongeBob SquarePants. As part of a plan to maximize the use of its broadcasting rights partnership with the National Football League (NFL), Paramount decided to air an "alternative" Super Bowl telecast on Nickelodeon that was aimed to be more family-friendly. The channel's website claimed that the broadcast was intended for "kids of all ages, from 2 to 102". The broadcast on Nickelodeon was hosted by Nate Burleson and Noah Eagle in live-action and accompanying them were SpongeBob and Patrick. Bill Fagerbakke and SpongeBobs voice actor Tom Kenny voiced the characters in real-time, improvising their own jokes in-character, and also utilized motion capture.
Fagerbakke and Kenny also hosted the 2024 Kids Choice Awards as SpongeBob and Patrick. They voiced their characters while being filmed backstage via motion capture, marking the first time the ceremony has been hosted by animated characters.
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. He has lived in Los Angeles ever since filming the show Coach, however he visits Idaho often. He enjoys spending time with his grandchild.
In 1997, Bill Fagerbakke returned to his alma mater—the University of Idaho to star in benefit performances of the play Love Letters, staged by the Idaho Repertory Theatre to support the university's theater program.
Fagerbakke is good friends with his SpongeBob SquarePants co-star Tom Kenny.
|-
|1994||Beethoven||Caesar / Roger's Dad||Main cast||
|-
|1994–1996||Gargoyles||Broadway / Hollywood||Main cast (season 1),<br>recurring role (season 2)|| rowspan="3" |
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|2021||Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl || Voiceover added in the June 2022 update ||
|}
Television live-action roles
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="white-space:nowrap"
|-
! Year !! Title !!Role!!Notes!!Source
|-
|1989–1997
|Coach
|Michael "Dauber" Dybinski
|
|
|-
|1994
|The Stand
|Tom Cullen
|Miniseries
|
|-
|1997
|Sabrina the Teenage Witch
|Dirk
|Episode: "Cat Showdown"
|
|-
|1998–1999
|Oz
|Karl Metzger
|3 episodes
|
|-
|2005–2014
|How I Met Your Mother
|Marvin Eriksen Sr.
|12 episodes
|
|-
|2007
|According to Jim
|Howard
|Episode: "All the Rage"
|
|-
|2012
|Weeds
|Police Academy Instructor
|Episode: "Allosaurus Crush Castle"
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2014
|Growing Up Fisher
|Ken Fisher
|4 episodes
|
|-
|Crash & Bernstein
|Jeff
|Episode: "Escape from Bigfoot Island"
|
|-
|2016
|All In with Cam Newton
|Himself
|Episode: "All In with Josh"
|
|-
|2017
|Black-ish
|Tom Avery
|Episode: "One Angry Man"
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2018
|Mom
|Sergeant Gene Rubenzer
|Episode: "Phone Confetti and a Wee Dingle"
|
|-
|I'm Dying Up Here
|Chris Beverly
| rowspan="2" |3 episodes
|
|-
|2019
|Unbelievable
|Detective Pruitt
|
|-
|2021–2023
|Young Sheldon
|Officer Jake
|4 episodes
|
|-
|2022
|Dynasty
|Peter de Viblis
|Episode: "Devoting All of Her Energy to Hate"
|
|}
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="white-space:nowrap"
|-
! Year !! Title !!Role!!Notes!!Source
|-
|1984
|Perfect Strangers
|Carl
|
|
|-
|1987
|The Secret of My Success
|Ron
|
|
|-
|1988
|Funny Farm
|Lon Criterion
|
|
|-
|1990
|Loose Cannons
|Giant
|
|
|-
|1992
|Porco Rosso
|Mamma Aiuto Gangster (voice)
|
|
|-
|1996
|The Hunchback of Notre Dame
|Oafish Guard (voice)
|
|
|-
|2021
|The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
|Patrick Star (voice)
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2025
|Plankton: The Movie
|Patrick Star, Troop (voice)
|
|
|-
|The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
|Patrick Star (voice)
|
|
|}
Other
- Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast (2003) - Patrick Star
- SpongeBob 4D (2005) - Patrick Star
- SpongeBob SquarePants 4D: The Great Jelly Rescue (2013) - Patrick Star
Accolades
Kids choice awards
In 2009 Fagerbakke was nominated for at the 2009 for Best Burp at the Kids' Choice Awards (shared with Tom Kenny), for their performances as SpongeBob and Patrick. In 2014 Fagerbakke won Favorite Animated Animal Sidekick as Patrick Star on SpongeBob SquarePants.
Behind the Voice Actors (BTVA) Awards
In 2013 Fargerbakke was nominated as a part of the Best Vocal Ensemble in a TV Series (Children's/Educational) in SpongeBob SquarePants, and in 2016 he was nominated as a part of Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film for Sponge Out of Water.
In 2019 Fargerbakke received the Animation Hall of Fame Game-Changers Award for his work as Patrick Star at that year's World Animation & VFX Summit.