Sandy Cheeks is a fictional character in the Nickelodeon franchise SpongeBob SquarePants. She is an anthropomorphic squirrel who wears a diving suit and lives underwater. Sandy is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence and first appeared in the episode "Tea at the Treedome" that premiered on May 1, 1999. Sandy was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg, the show's creator. The character's reception from fans has been positive. Sandy has appeared in many SpongeBob SquarePants publications, toys, and other merchandise. She also appears in the show's three films. Role in SpongeBob SquarePants Sandy is a close friend of SpongeBob SquarePants. She is a proud Texan and speaks in a stereotypical Southern drawl. In order to live underwater, Sandy resides in a bubble-like dome and wears an atmospheric diving suit when outside her house. Inside the treedome, her normal attire consists of a green and purple bikini. Conversely, as revealed in Tea at the Treedome, other characters must wear "water helmets" with opposite functionality when visiting her house. Sandy possesses extraordinary scientific skills such as the ability to construct complex inventions. Sandy is shown to possess a number of tough, tomboyish character traits and interests; she is skilled at karate, engages in bodybuilding, and is a rodeo champion. She is also a close friend of Patrick Star, SpongeBob's best friend and neighbor, though she sometimes gets annoyed by him. History and development Creation and design Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean and began developing his artistic abilities as a child. During college, he majored in marine biology and minored in art. After graduating in 1984, he joined the Ocean Institute, an ocean education organization, where he had the idea to create a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which led to the creation of SpongeBob SquarePants. In 1987, Hillenburg left the institute to pursue a career in animation. A few years after studying experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, Hillenburg met Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life, at an animation festival. Murray offered Hillenburg a job as a director of the series. 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. At that point, Hillenburg had not considered creating his own series, but soon realized that this was his chance. Shortly after production on Rocko's Modern