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From mycentraljersey.com:
East Brunswick native voices SpongeBob Squarepants character
Sheldon J. Plankton, the villainous character on SpongeBob Squarepants, is in a never-ending search for the secret formula in his nemesis’ Krabby Patty recipe. Though Plankton continuously fails in this quest, Douglas Lawrence Osowski, who voices the tiny sea creature on Nickelodeon’s animated series, found the secret formula that led to his own success – animation.
Ever since he was a kid growing up in East Brunswick, Osowski wanted to be a cartoonist.
“Sports didn’t interest me,” he said. “I tried, but it didn’t really go my way.”
His goal was to create a comic strip in the style of Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts. Early on, he learned he had a talent for drawing. After high school, Osowski studied at The Kubert School in Dover, and that’s when he discovered animation.
“I was amazed by it,” he said. “It became an obsession.”
After two years, he felt he had enough of school and moved to California, where he started out doing stand-up comedy. Osowski found work at an animation company, where he wrote, directed, animated and voiced characters on shows such as “The Ren and Stimpy Show,” “Rocko’s Modern Life” and “Camp Lazlo!” But you won’t see his name in the credits. Not his real name, anyway. Using his middle name, he goes by the more formal title of “Mr. Lawrence.”
“I was trying to come up with a comic strip when I was in college,” he said. “I wanted a name like Dr. Seuss, but I’m not a doctor. I started using Mr. Lawrence because it just seemed funny.”
After moving to Burbank and getting more work in the animation industry, Osowski said his agent told him he should stick with using the name “Mr. Lawrence,” so he did.
“Everyone who knows me calls me Doug,” he said. “I don’t make people call me Mr. Lawrence.”
Enter Spongebob
He was working at “Rocko’s Modern Life” when he met Stephen Hillenburg, the marine biologist-turned-animator who later created “SpongeBob Squarepants.”
“I helped Stephen with the story and then I auditioned for SpongeBob,” Osowski said. “I used my Plankton voice, which sounds like a mix of Tony the Tiger and Gregory Peck. It’s actually an imitation of a friend from high school that had a really deep voice.”
Hillenburg wanted someone with a more innocent voice, so Osowski didn’t get the part. He was disappointed, but later was told his voice would be a great fit for the villain.
“The Plankton character was only supposed to be in one or two episodes, but I was a writer on the show and I really liked this character,” Osowski said. “Stephen told me to come up with more ideas for Plankton. I’m not just his voice. I get to create how the character is written and how he evolves over time. You very rarely get that experience.”
Osowski enjoys going to conventions and doing Plankton’s voice for his fans.
“Sometimes the little kids get freaked out,” he said.
Plankton isn’t the only character on the show that Osowski voices. His characters include Larry the Lobster, Old Man Jenkins and a voice in the background that occasionally yells, “My leg!” Osowski has writing credits on 70 episodes and was nominated for a 2011 Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program.
“Usually, with voices, you do a season or two and you’re done,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years, working with a great set of people who are very good at what they do.”
Why does Osowski think the SpongeBob franchise has lasted so long?
“It’s a quality show and I think it came along at the right time,” he said. “America wanted something stupid after the insanity of 9/11. The SpongeBob character is a naïve idiot but he also has a heart. He’s a dumb, well-meaning person, like Forrest Gump or Jerry Lewis.”
What surprised him, he said, is that the voice actors on the show are very similar in nature to the characters they play.
“There are pieces of us in all of those characters,” he said.
Osowski said the actor who plays cranky Squidward Tentacles gets annoyed very quickly.
“He’s kind of a curmudgeon,” he said.
Clancy Brown, who plays Mr. Krabs, is an imposing fellow, Osowski said.
“We know him as a movie star,” he said. “He was in ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’ I’m the villain on the show, yet Clancy scares me.”
Self-assessment
When speaking of himself, Osowski admits he often has delusions of grandeur, just like Plankton does.
“I always get disappointed because of schemes I want to pull off or if shows that I want to create don’t work out,” he said.
Osowski , who lives in Burbank, California, with his wife Mary Ann, usually spends one day a week working on SpongeBob, so he has plenty of time to devote to other projects.
“I work on short films and other projects I’m trying to sell,” he said. “I’m always pitching movies and TV shows. I have various development deals around town.”
His work is diverse. Back in 2009, Osowski and musician Rob Zombie co-wrote and co-directed an R-rated animated film called “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto.” He also drew an album cover for parody songwriter Weird Al Yankovic, who he met through a mutual friend. It was a compilation called, “The Food Album,” so Osowski drew a slimy monster eating Yankovic.
“It was a subversive idea and he loved it,” he said.
These days, Osowski is head writer on “Mighty Magiswords,” a comedy spoof of the Zelda video games. The show is an online series from Cartoon Network.
Osowski credits much of his success to his upbringing in East Brunswick.
“The arts were very prevalent in my school,” he said. “The East Brunswick school system was very influential to my career, as well as the parks and recreation department, which let me make two years of live sketch comedy shows in the summer on the high school stage. It was a great place to grow up.”
Osowski’s father, Larry, is owner of Hanco Service, a heating and air conditioning company in South River. His own father started the business back in 1957.
“I knew early on that Doug was never going to do what I’m doing,” the elder Osowski said. “He has been drawing since he was four years old. Whenever he saw an empty piece of paper, he drew on it. We always encouraged him. Doug loves what he’s doing and I’m so happy that he’s doing well.”
No matter what else he does in his career, Osowski will likely be known always as Sheldon J. Plankton, owner of the Chum Bucket restaurant and chief rival of Mr. Krabs.
“I’m going to be Plankton forever,” he said. “It will be on my tombstone, and I’m okay with that.”
East Brunswick native voices SpongeBob Squarepants character
Sheldon J. Plankton, the villainous character on SpongeBob Squarepants, is in a never-ending search for the secret formula in his nemesis’ Krabby Patty recipe. Though Plankton continuously fails in this quest, Douglas Lawrence Osowski, who voices the tiny sea creature on Nickelodeon’s animated series, found the secret formula that led to his own success – animation.
Ever since he was a kid growing up in East Brunswick, Osowski wanted to be a cartoonist.
“Sports didn’t interest me,” he said. “I tried, but it didn’t really go my way.”
His goal was to create a comic strip in the style of Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts. Early on, he learned he had a talent for drawing. After high school, Osowski studied at The Kubert School in Dover, and that’s when he discovered animation.
“I was amazed by it,” he said. “It became an obsession.”
After two years, he felt he had enough of school and moved to California, where he started out doing stand-up comedy. Osowski found work at an animation company, where he wrote, directed, animated and voiced characters on shows such as “The Ren and Stimpy Show,” “Rocko’s Modern Life” and “Camp Lazlo!” But you won’t see his name in the credits. Not his real name, anyway. Using his middle name, he goes by the more formal title of “Mr. Lawrence.”
“I was trying to come up with a comic strip when I was in college,” he said. “I wanted a name like Dr. Seuss, but I’m not a doctor. I started using Mr. Lawrence because it just seemed funny.”
After moving to Burbank and getting more work in the animation industry, Osowski said his agent told him he should stick with using the name “Mr. Lawrence,” so he did.
“Everyone who knows me calls me Doug,” he said. “I don’t make people call me Mr. Lawrence.”
Enter Spongebob
He was working at “Rocko’s Modern Life” when he met Stephen Hillenburg, the marine biologist-turned-animator who later created “SpongeBob Squarepants.”
“I helped Stephen with the story and then I auditioned for SpongeBob,” Osowski said. “I used my Plankton voice, which sounds like a mix of Tony the Tiger and Gregory Peck. It’s actually an imitation of a friend from high school that had a really deep voice.”
Hillenburg wanted someone with a more innocent voice, so Osowski didn’t get the part. He was disappointed, but later was told his voice would be a great fit for the villain.
“The Plankton character was only supposed to be in one or two episodes, but I was a writer on the show and I really liked this character,” Osowski said. “Stephen told me to come up with more ideas for Plankton. I’m not just his voice. I get to create how the character is written and how he evolves over time. You very rarely get that experience.”
Osowski enjoys going to conventions and doing Plankton’s voice for his fans.
“Sometimes the little kids get freaked out,” he said.
Plankton isn’t the only character on the show that Osowski voices. His characters include Larry the Lobster, Old Man Jenkins and a voice in the background that occasionally yells, “My leg!” Osowski has writing credits on 70 episodes and was nominated for a 2011 Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program.
“Usually, with voices, you do a season or two and you’re done,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years, working with a great set of people who are very good at what they do.”
Why does Osowski think the SpongeBob franchise has lasted so long?
“It’s a quality show and I think it came along at the right time,” he said. “America wanted something stupid after the insanity of 9/11. The SpongeBob character is a naïve idiot but he also has a heart. He’s a dumb, well-meaning person, like Forrest Gump or Jerry Lewis.”
What surprised him, he said, is that the voice actors on the show are very similar in nature to the characters they play.
“There are pieces of us in all of those characters,” he said.
Osowski said the actor who plays cranky Squidward Tentacles gets annoyed very quickly.
“He’s kind of a curmudgeon,” he said.
Clancy Brown, who plays Mr. Krabs, is an imposing fellow, Osowski said.
“We know him as a movie star,” he said. “He was in ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’ I’m the villain on the show, yet Clancy scares me.”
Self-assessment
When speaking of himself, Osowski admits he often has delusions of grandeur, just like Plankton does.
“I always get disappointed because of schemes I want to pull off or if shows that I want to create don’t work out,” he said.
Osowski , who lives in Burbank, California, with his wife Mary Ann, usually spends one day a week working on SpongeBob, so he has plenty of time to devote to other projects.
“I work on short films and other projects I’m trying to sell,” he said. “I’m always pitching movies and TV shows. I have various development deals around town.”
His work is diverse. Back in 2009, Osowski and musician Rob Zombie co-wrote and co-directed an R-rated animated film called “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto.” He also drew an album cover for parody songwriter Weird Al Yankovic, who he met through a mutual friend. It was a compilation called, “The Food Album,” so Osowski drew a slimy monster eating Yankovic.
“It was a subversive idea and he loved it,” he said.
These days, Osowski is head writer on “Mighty Magiswords,” a comedy spoof of the Zelda video games. The show is an online series from Cartoon Network.
Osowski credits much of his success to his upbringing in East Brunswick.
“The arts were very prevalent in my school,” he said. “The East Brunswick school system was very influential to my career, as well as the parks and recreation department, which let me make two years of live sketch comedy shows in the summer on the high school stage. It was a great place to grow up.”
Osowski’s father, Larry, is owner of Hanco Service, a heating and air conditioning company in South River. His own father started the business back in 1957.
“I knew early on that Doug was never going to do what I’m doing,” the elder Osowski said. “He has been drawing since he was four years old. Whenever he saw an empty piece of paper, he drew on it. We always encouraged him. Doug loves what he’s doing and I’m so happy that he’s doing well.”
No matter what else he does in his career, Osowski will likely be known always as Sheldon J. Plankton, owner of the Chum Bucket restaurant and chief rival of Mr. Krabs.
“I’m going to be Plankton forever,” he said. “It will be on my tombstone, and I’m okay with that.”
