Luis Carreño during the dubbing of SpongeBob.
Bob Esponja is the Latin American Spanish dub of SpongeBob SquarePants. It is currently airing in Nickelodeon in Latin America and the United States, and on Nicktoons; it is also available on Paramount+, Max and Netflix.
Dubbing History[]
The dubbing of the series began production around the end of 1999 at the Etcétera Group studio in Caracas, Venezuela. The series didn't had an artistic director at that time. Instead, like almost all productions dubbed in Caracas at the time, the actors directed themselves with the help of a recording engineer who used the audio and dialogues of each one of them while they voiced their characters, implying that each one was directed while some actors worked on the technical operation. At that time, the original cast of the series was made up of Kaihiamal Martínez, Paul Gillman, Renzo Jiménez, Luis Pérez Pons, Mercedes Prato, Isabel Vara, Irina Índigo, Óscar Zuloaga and Rocío Mallo.
Heading into the second season, several actors had to leave the production of the dub due to their intentions to form a small union with some colleagues in search of a fair salary; as a result, they were fired by Etcétera Group. Many voice actors also left Venezuela to migrate to other countries and thus couldn't reprise their roles. In the case of the character SpongeBob, Kaihiamal Martínez was replaced by Luis Carreño and has been the current voice of SpongeBob since then.
In 2004, Paul Gillman would retire from dubbing in favor of continuing his well-known musical career. The voice of Patrick Star would then be taken on by Alfonso Soto, who has voiced him since the first film. In 2005, Walter Véliz, Guillermo Martínez, Jesús Hernández and Judith Noguera joined the team as technical operators. Just as in previous seasons though, there was still no director, so the actors would return to directing themselves. It is also worth noting that as of the 3rd season, the actors Armando Volcanes and Héctor Isturde would begin dubbing the characters of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy respectively, replacing the actors Juan Guzmán and Alex Orozco. Over time, some characters would begin to have abrupt and diverse voice changes, either due to the itinerary of their respective actors, or due to them retiring from dubbing.
In 2008; the actors Anabella Silva and Ezequiel Serrano retired from dubbing and moved to London; therefore, their roles in the series would be dubbed by other actors. Perch Perkins was dubbed by Jhonny Torres in the 5th season and Rolman Bastidas in the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th seasons. Sandy Cheeks's current voice actress is Lileana Chacón, who has played the character since season 6.
In that same year, the actor Luis Pérez Pons also stopped working for the company Etcétera Group and therefore stopped dubbing Mr. Krabs, with Whatever Happened to SpongeBob? being the last episode where he dubbed the character. Afterwards, the character would then be dubbed over by Carlos Vitale.
In 2011, Yensi Rivero also retired from dubbing and settled in Spain, therefore the role of Pearl was carried onto Melanie Henríquez. In the same year, Walter Véliz entered as artistic director starting with season 8; being the first season to have proper dubbing direction.
In mid-2012, the actors Luis Miguel Pérez and Rebeca Aponte retired from dubbing due to their change of residence from the city of Caracas, the place where the series was dubbed, to Mérida-Venezuela. For this reason, the roles that both actors played in the series were assigned to other actors and actresses. Héctor Indriago was expected to take on the role of Plankton initially, however he ultimately only played him in one episode, and Ángel Mujica instead took over the role for season 9 onward.
In 2013, the actor Gonzalo Fumero retired from dubbing after emigrating to France, and thus his role as Potty the Parrot was given to Rolman Bastidas. Although Fumero returned to Venezuela in mid-2015, he did not resume playing the character, leaving Bastidas as his official voice. Fumero then went to live abroad again at the end of 2015, to Buenos Aires, Argentina; where he continues to work as a dubbing actor. In that same year, the actor Carlos Vitale retired from dubbing and the company contacted the actor Luis Pérez Pons afterwards. After reaching an agreement, he resumed playing Mr. Krabs, with the second film being his official return. After Luis's passing on October 24, 2023, Olin Garcés took over the role of Mr. Krabs, starting with the fourteenth season, despite Carlos Vitale already having recently returned from retirement beforehand.
In 2014, the actors Luis Miguel Pérez and Rebeca Aponte confirmed on their social networks that they would return to dubbing since they had set up a small dubbing studio in Mérida-Venezuela where they lived, and they planned to reach agreements with the company Etcétera Group to record their characters from there. However, said negotiation was not achieved, and both actors decided to return to Caracas and would continue their work in dubbing. Only the actress Rebeca Aponte would resume voicing Margaret SquarePants during the 8th season. It is still unknown why Luis Miguel did not resume any character that he had dubbed in the series. At the end of that year, the actor and technical operator Guillermo Martínez would also pass away. Abruptly dropping his work on the technical side of the dub and some of the characters he had voiced up until then.
In 2015, the actress Melanie Henríquez retired from dubbing after the release of the second film, since she was moving to Spain; Therefore, her roles as Karen and Pearl were filled in by Mariangny Álvarez and Gabriela Belén in the ninth season respectively. During the dubbing of the tenth season, Gabriela was then replaced in the role of Karen by Sixnalie Villalba. It was also revealed that Isabel Vara was replaced by Elena Díaz Toledo for the role of Mrs. Puff, due to her move to Miami, Florida. During a few seasons of the series, some secondary characters' voice actors were changed; Man Ray was now voiced by Luis José Lugo after Ledner Belisario moved to Miami, and Jesús Hernández started voicing Larry the Lobster in the ninth season after Carlos Vitale retired. Luis José Lugo also voiced Larry in the tenth and eleventh seasons before the role was returned to Jesús.
During the middle of that year, Luis Carreño would then begin to voice the character of SpongeBob from one of the Etcétera Group headquarters in Miami, who moved to the United States due to labor issues and poor working conditions. Despite the fact that he had begun to voice the title character by then (and some episodes with his work done in Miami had already been released), the studio was initially planning to replace Carreño with a Mexican dubbing actor (for reasons that were never clarified); preparations to recast were also already made in that country on February 18, 2016 in the dubbing studio DAT Doblaje Audio Traducción. Many Latin American fans of the series also made petitions in response to the studio to cast the actor Kaihiamal Martínez so he can resume the character, since he already resided in Mexico. Despite this, Carreño managed to reach an agreement with Nickelodeon to continue dubbing the character from the United States for the rest of the series.
Many more changes followed in 2016. The actor Jhonny Torres would leave Venezuela to settle in Mexico where he would continue his work as a dubbing actor, and as a result he left the role of several recurring characters in the series. Rolman Bastidas would also leave Venezuela to settle in the Dominican Republic. Although at first it was not certain that he would continue working as a dubbing actor in that country, he finally announced on his Facebook account that he would continue. Despite this, Bastidas' roles were eventually replaced due to his moving. Perch Perkins was voiced by various actors such as Oscar Caraballo, Alejandro Mejía, Gherald De Fonseca and currently Oswaldo Gómez. Bubble Bass would then be dubbed over by David Silva from season 9 to 12, however he was replaced by José Gómez Chompré afterwards. Armando Da Silva also takes the role of Potty in the following seasons.
Cast[]
| Character | Actor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bob Esponja Pantalones Cuadrados
|
Kaihiamal Martínez (season 1) | |
| Luis Carreño (seasons 2–present) | |||
| Ángel Balam (one line in ep. 145) | |||
| Jesús Hernández (singing, ep. 175) | |||
|
Patricio Estrella
|
Paul Gillman (seasons 1–3) | |
| Luis Lugo (ep. 59) | |||
| Alfonso Soto (seasons 4–present) | |||
| David Silva (one line in ep. 165) | |||
| unknown (one line in ep. 172) | |||
|
Calamardo Tentáculos
|
Renzo Jiménez | |
|
Calamarino Elegante
| ||
|
Sra. Tentáculos
| ||
|
Don Eugenio H. Cangrejo
|
Luis Pérez Pons (ep. 1–100, ep. 190–293) | |
| Carlos Vitale (ep. 102–189) | |||
| Olin Garcés (seasons 14–present) | |||
|
Sheldon J. Plankton
|
Óscar Zuloaga (ep. 3–28) | |
| unknown (ep. 59) | |||
| Luis Miguel Pérez (ep. 34–179) | |||
| Ángel Mujica (ep. 184–present) | |||
|
Karen Plankton
|
Rocío Mallo (season 1) | |
| Lidya Abboud (some season 4 episodes) | |||
| María José Estévez (ep. 170–177) | |||
| Melanie Henríquez (seasons 2–8) | |||
| Gabriela Belén (ep. 198–203) | |||
| Sixnalie Villalba (ep. 209–present) | |||
|
Arenita Mejillas
|
Mercedes Prato (ep. 1–20) | |
| Anabella Silva (ep. 23–72, ep. 92–111) | |||
| Lidya Abboud (one line in ep. 66) | |||
| Yaraiví Alcedo (ep. 74–90) | |||
| Lileana Chacón (ep. 116–present) | |||
|
Sra. Puff
|
Isabel Vara (seasons 1–9) | |
| Citlalli Godoy (season 3, ep. 51, 59, 60) | |||
| Ivette García (ep. 174–187) | |||
| Elena Díaz Toledo (ep. 205–246) | |||
| Catherine J. Reyes (ep. 247–present) | |||
|
Perlita Cangrejo
|
Irina Índigo (season 1) | |
| Yensi Rivero (seasons 2–8) | |||
| Melanie Henríquez (seasons 8–9) | |||
| Mariangny Álvarez (ep. 184–present) | |||
|
Gary el Caracol
|
Kaihiamal Martínez (season 1) | |
| José Manuel Vieira (season 1 ep. 15) | |||
| Fernando Márquez (seasons 6–11) | |||
| Luis Carreño (season 7, ep. 138) | |||
| Lileana Chacón (ep 241–present) | |||
|
Narrador Francés
|
Orlando Noguera (season 1) | |
| Juan Guzmán (seasons 2–present) | |||
|
Larry Langosta
|
Antonio Delli (season 1) | |
| Luis Miguel Pérez (seasons 2-5) | |||
| José Mendez (ep. 59) | |||
| Jhonny Torres (ep. 75) | |||
| José Granadillo (ep. 106) | |||
| Carlos Vitale (seasons 6–8) | |||
| Jesús Hernández (seasons 9–present) | |||
| Luis José Lugo (seasons 10–12) | |||
|
Parche el pirata
|
Juan Guzmán | |
|
Painty
| ||
|
Potty el loro
|
Gonzalo Fumero (seasons 2-6) | |
| Rolman Bastidas (season 8) | |||
| Armando Da Silva (seasons 10-present) | |||
|
Tritón
Sireno Man |
Juan Guzmán (seasons 1-2) | |
| Héctor Isturde (seasons 3-9) | |||
| Sergio Pinto (young) | |||
|
Chico Percebe
|
Antonio Delli (season 1) | |
| Alex Orozco (season 2) | |||
| Armando Volcanes (seasons 3-9) | |||
| Jhonny Torres (young) | |||
|
Holandés Volador
|
Armando Volcanes | |
|
Capitán Azul Esponja
| ||
|
Rey Neptune
|
Orlando Noguera (ep. 19) | |
| José Méndez (ep. 126) | |||
| Kevin García (ep. 211) | |||
|
Perca Perkins
|
Héctor Indriago (ep. 73) | |
| Rolman Bastidas (seasons 4, 6-9) | |||
| Jhonny Torres (seasons 5 and ep. 185) | |||
| Eder La Barrera (ep. 143) | |||
| Oscar Caraballo (ep. 191) | |||
| Alejandro Mejía (seasons 10-11) | |||
| Gherald De Fonseca (season 12) | |||
| Oswaldo Gómez (seasons 13-present) | |||
|
Margaret Pantalones Cuadrados
|
Rebeca Aponte (seasons 1, 4, 6-8) | |
| Maythe Guedes (seasons 2-3, 5, 12) | |||
| Darda Hernández (seasons 13-present) | |||
|
Harold Pantalones Cuadrados
|
Esteban García (season 1) | |
| Framk Maneiro (ep. 30) | |||
| Rolman Bastidas (ep. 77, 123) | |||
| Luis Carreño (ep. 93) | |||
| José Granadillo (ep. 159) | |||
| Kevin Adrián (ep. 254-255) | |||
|
Róbalo Burbuja
|
Antonio Delli (season 1) | |
| Rolman Bastidas (season 8) | |||
| David Silva (seasons 9-12) | |||
| José Gómez Chompré (seasons 13-present) | |||
| Walter Albornoz (ep. 271-274) | |||
|
Scooter
|
Sergio Sáez (ep. 18) | |
| Gonzalo Fumero (ep. 23, 41-42) | |||
| Juan Guzmán (ep. 31, 78) | |||
| Jesús Nunes (ep. 74) | |||
| Fernando Márquez (season 7) | |||
| David Silva (season 9) | |||
|
Amigo Burbuja
|
Enrique Mujica (season 2) | |
| Ángel Mujica (season 8) | |||
|
Madre de Don Cangrejo
|
Elena Díaz Toledo (seasons 2-3) | |
| Valentina Toro (season 4) | |||
|
Manta Raya
|
Luis Miguel Pérez (season 2) | |
| Jesús Rondón (seasons 3, 13) | |||
| Guillermo Martínez (season 5) | |||
| José Granadillo (seasons 6–8) | |||
| Ledner Belisario (ep. 117) | |||
| unknown (ep. 180) | |||
| Luis José Lugo (season 11) | |||
|
Burbuja Sucia
|
José Manuel Vieira (season 1) | |
| Frank de Carip (season 3) | |||
| José Granadillo (season 7) | |||
| unknown (season 9) | |||
| Daniel Contreras (season 12) | |||
| Andrew Pérez (seasons 13-present) | |||
|
Rube Pezdorado
|
Walter Claro (seasons 11-12) | |
| Manuel Arias (seasons 13-present) | |||
|
Plano
|
José Méndez | |
|
Johnny Krill
| ||
|
Todo Aquello Dinero Compre
|
Ricardo Omaña | |
|
Jack Kahuna Laguna
|
Ángel Balam | |
|
Reina Amphitrite
|
Melanie Henríquez | |
|
Tritón
|
Jesús Hernández | |
|
Stanley Esponja
|
Rolman Bastidas | |
|
Cachiporra
|
Rubén León | |
|
Sargento Sam Roderick
|
Carlos Vitale | |
|
Gunther Fitz
|
Gonzalo Fumero | |
| Technical staff | |||
Dubbing director
|
Juan Castañeda (first 16 episodes) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Véliz (season 8-present) | |||
Technical operators
|
Walter Véliz (season 4-present) | ||
| Jesús Hernández (season 4-present) | |||
| Guillermo Martínez (seasons 4-8) | |||
| Judith Noguera (seasons 4-9) | |||
|
