Bumpass was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 20, 1951. He attended Little Rock Central High School where he received his first training in theater. He attended Arkansas State University where he majored in radio–TV and minored in theater. He worked at the campus radio station and also at Jonesboro's Raycom Media owned ABC-affiliated television station, KAIT-TV, where he had multiple duties as announcer, film processor, cameraman, audio technician, and technical director. While at KAIT, he also wrote, produced, and performed in a late-night comedy program called Mid-Century Nonsense Festival Featuring Kumquat Theater. He graduated from A-State in 1976, and when encouraged by an A-State professor to consider professional theater, he went to New York in June 1977.
Career
In 1977 he won a role in the National Lampoon's music and comedy road showThat's Not Funny, That's Sick and toured with them until 1978. That same year, he appeared in the TV special Disco Beaver from Outer Space for HBO. In 1979, Bumpass was cast as the leading role in a National Lampoon film to be called Jaws 3, People 0 in which he would have a love scene with Bo Derek. However, the film was canceled due to objections by the creators of the movie Jaws. In 1980, Bumpass created the character of 'Fartman' to appear on the National Lampoon LPThe White Album, which later inspired the Howard Stern character by the same name. Bumpass is best known to present-day viewers as the voice of Squidward Tentacles and various incidental characters on the Nickelodeon animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is also known for voicing The Chief from Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, Hyenas on The Lion King, Dr. Light on Teen Titans, and Professor Membrane on Invader Zim. Though he has been voicing and acting in films since the 60s, and had also appeared on stage through the mid 70s until the late 80s. Bumpass has over 693 film credits, according to IMDb. In 2012, Bumpass received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for his role as Squidward on SpongeBob SquarePants.
On January 15, 2016, Bumpass was arrested for alleged DUI in Burbank, California. A police report of the incident alleged that officers of the Burbank Police Department found Bumpass in his blue Chrysler PT Cruiser in the middle of the road. He was said to have leaned against the car, and when officers walked up to Bumpass for questioning, he tried to walk away and lost his balance, nearly falling to the ground. He confessed to driving after drinking at a Burbank bar before cops spotted him, and he was soon handcuffed after failing a sobriety test. His blood alcohol levels were said to be more than twice the legal limit. He was later released on a $15,000 bail shortly the next morning. The incident was first reported by celebrity gossip website TMZ several days after the incident, on January 19. A day later, Bumpass alleged to the website that the police had lied about the DUI report, claiming that he was not leaning against his car when officers spotted him, and that he was being tailed and pulled over by the officers before his arrest, though he did confess again to the DUI charge. Nickelodeon representatives were notified of the incident by Bumpass, but did not release any immediate comments or actions regarding the matter. On January 25, 2016, ten days after the incident, Nickelodeon representatives confirmed to TMZ that Bumpass would remain on SpongeBob SquarePants for the foreseeable future. The representatives alleged that the network's morals clause for the show did not consider DUI charges to be an immoral act, and thus Bumpass was not legally subject to termination.
