He is voiced by actor Bill Fagerbakke and was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg.

[2] An overweight coral-pink starfish, Patrick lives under a rock in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, and is the best friend of SpongeBob SquarePants.

After graduating in 1984, he joined the Ocean Institute, an organization dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history.

[3][4] While he was there, he initially had the idea that would lead to the creation of SpongeBob SquarePants: a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone.

[5][7][8][9] Martin Olson, one of the writers for Rocko's Modern Life, read The Intertidal Zone and encouraged Hillenburg to create a television series with a similar concept.

[17] However, according to episode writer Jay Lender, "when that show came back it felt so right that his dark side started popping up everywhere.

Jeff Hutchins, show's sound designer said, "[Going] barefoot makes it tough to have much presence, so we decided that Patrick would be performed with shoes on.

Typically, when you audition for any kind of voiceover stuff, you're in a studio, but as I remember it, this was, like, in a weird conference room somewhere, and he had one of those little old cassette decks that's about half the size of a shoebox, and there was something so endearing about it.Fagerbakke referred to Patrick as "AquaDauber" (a reference to his role as Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the 1990s sitcom Coach) in the first few years of working on the show.

[27] He holds no form of occupation except for several very brief stints working at the Krusty Krab and at the Chum Bucket in a variety of positions,[28] and mostly spends his time either clowning around with SpongeBob, catching jellyfish with him, or lounging beneath the rock under which he resides.

In the second film, Patrick (along with SpongeBob, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton) is rendered in 3D (using CGI) in the live action scenes.

[37] In 2009, actor John Fricker portrayed Patrick in the musical adaptation of the third season episode "The Sponge Who Could Fly".

Gordon Barr and Roger Domeneghetti of the Evening Chronicle described the musical as "a silly riot of colour [...] as you'd have to expect from an adaptation of a cartoon TV show",[39] while Viv Hardwick of The Northern Echo said that Fricker and Martin Johnston (Mr. Krabs) "win the biggest costume contest.

"[40] A critic from the Chichester Observer wrote, "John Fricker is in his element as the simple but lovable Patrick Star".

Following this, a YouTube user uploaded another video featuring Patrick reacting to Canadian singer Justin Bieber's 2010 single, "Baby".

The meme called "Surprised Patrick" started to disseminate, with one of the first images was posted to Reddit by SeannyOC, and then reblogged onto I Can Has Cheezburger?

[42] Comedy websites—including BiteTV,[42] CollegeHumor,[43] Mashable[44] and Smosh[45]—have published their own "Best of" lists and compilations, covering the "Surprised Patrick" meme's popularity.

Mashable's Nena Prakash said, "For years, Patrick Star helped hold down Bikini Bottom while SpongeBob was flippin' burgers at [t]he Krusty Krab.

[46] A CGI version of Patrick was part of Nickelodeon's 2022 Christmas Day National Football League game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams, with Fagerbakke providing real-time commentary for the character.

"[50] In a review published in 2007, Peter Keepnews of The New York Times said, "Patrick is a popular character, and the new episodes illustrate why: He is unfailingly enthusiastic, touchingly loyal and absolutely undeterred by his intellectual limitations.

She cited her favorite scene from the episode, where "Patrick can't read the number on Mr. Krabs' table, saying, 'Ford knee.'

[53] Patrick received the Kids' Choice Award Blimp for the category, winning to Perry the Platypus (Phineas and Ferb), Sparky (The Fairly OddParents) and Waddles (Gravity Falls).

[55] The Wall Street Journal also raised questions about SpongeBob and Patrick in a recent article that pointed out the show's popularity in the gay community.

[63] Derek Drymon, the show's creative director until 2004, said, "If SpongeBob holds hands with Patrick it's because he's his best friend and he loves him.

Dennis noted the two are "not consistently coded as romantic partners," since they live in separate residences, and have distinct groups of friends, but claimed that in the series, "the possibility of same-sex desire is never excluded.

"[65] Martin Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Dennis's comments regarding SpongeBob and Patrick as "interesting.

"[66] In 2020, a new species of starfish from northwest Pacific seamounts was named Astrolirus patricki in honor of Patrick Star.

All known specimens of A. patricki were found closely associated with hexactinellid sponges, and the species was thus named after the character Patrick Star as a reference to his friendship with SpongeBob.