Thomas J. "Tom" Stern (born 1965) is an American actor, director, writer, producer, and SpongeBob SquarePants crew member living in Los Angeles, California. Stern grew up in Pleasantville, New York and attended Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York, and then went to film school at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts from 1983 to 1987, where he met Alex Winter. The two collaborated on several short films, including Squeal of Death, which was noticed by a Columbia Pictures executive in 1986. After graduation, the couple went to Hollywood and ran the IMPACT video magazine, which features artists and performers. like Bill Hicks, Survival Research Labs, Public Enemy, Robert Williams, Jane's Addiction and another short film with Butthole Surfers. He is also the co-writer of "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy's Beach Bash!"
Biography[]
In the immediate aftermath of The Idiot Box, Stern, Winter, and Burns co-wrote the 1993 film Freaked with Stern and Winter also co-directing. The movie's cast included Winter, Randy Quaid, Keanu Reeves, Bobcat Goldthwait and Mr. T. The film gained a cult following and in 2013 was screened at Cinefamily in Los Angeles in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its release. Stern also co-wrote the screenplay for An American Werewolf in Paris, the sequel to the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London, with Burns and Anthony Waller. Stern and Burns also collaborated on The Chimp Channel.
Stern has worked with producer Jimmy Kimmel's Jackhole Productions on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Man Show as segment director, and Crank Yankers as director and supervising producer. Additionally, Stern appeared as an actor and worked as a writer for the Trey Parker and Matt Stone presidential parody, That's My Bush! He served as director and writer for The Andy Milonakis Show, and was one of the creators and producers of the travel show Comedy Central, a parody of Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust.
Stern was most recently a writer, director, and producer for a SpongeBob live action special titled "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy's Beach Party!," starring Tom Kenny, Jon Heder, Rob Riggle, Meghan Trainor, and Anthony Davis, which premiered on Nickelodeon on January 4, 2020. Stern was also most recently showrunner / director on two Netflix shows: Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History and The Toys That Made Us. His short film Adams, which he produced, directed and adapted from the George Saunders story, stars Patton Oswalt and Fred Armisen, and recently won Best Comedy at the HollyShorts Film Festival, where the jury included Anthony Russo and Matthew Modine. Other recent shows directed by Stern include Comedy Central's rebooted Crank Yankers, Fox's What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage, and the Jim Henson Company's upcoming animatronic alien show for Disney+.
At the moment; he, along with Kaz, are developing and writing the script for the film Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie.
Credits[]
| Episode | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Season 12 | ||
| - "SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy's Beach Bash!" | writer director | |
| List of episode credits | ||
Movies[]
| Episode | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| F1 - "Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie" | writer | |
| List of episode credits | ||