Dale Hendrickson is a character designer for The Simpsons. He has worked in the animation and film industry for over 35 years.

After moving out to California from the Art Institute of Pittsburg, he began his career in animation at Hanna and Barbara animation studio. He has since worked for most of the animation studios in the Hollywood area.

His career has taken many paths, at one point owning his own studio, developing visual effects for film trailer companies, and creating content for animated productions.

He was one of the first animation artists to be hired when The Simpsons first season got greenlit and stayed with them for 7 years. After getting an offer to art-direct a show at Saban Entertainment, he left The Simpsons to expand his opportunities. There, he art- directed a show called The Mouse and The Monster for UPN network and then developed the computer animation department at Saban and worked with Marvel studios to coproduce the Silver Surfer character - a computer and traditional animation production. Dale was one of the first artists to do this for a weekly half hour show.

He has now come full circle working back with The Simpsons while developing new projects on his own.

He and his wife Pam have also been active in the animal rights and animal welfare community and have been Vegans for eight years. He volunteers his time for benefits that address animal issues and fundraising for animal sanctuaries and rescue organizations.

Dale has had many UFO-related adventures. In 1966, Michigan was experiencing a UFO flap – Dale was 10 and thought he was going to meet the aliens. On a New Year's Day in 1968 at his conservative cousin’s house, that cousin made things real for Dale’s brother and him when he recounted how his young daughter, eight years old at the time, had come back from the window all excited about something outside – something hovering over the street. As his cousin recounted, the man went with her to look, and there hovering over the tree lined street, just at treetop level, was a shiny craft, 30 feet in diameter. Dale’s cousin noted it was like a mirror reflecting the street below in its smooth featureless surface. 

Years later, Dale and his wife made a few trips to Area 51 with a friend who had a tricked-out van, police scanners, and other gear. They witnessed a Spielbergian moment as they watched the star-strewn sky, as two “stars” suddenly left their positions in the constellations and travelled across the sky in opposite directions. The “stars” made a full lap of the entire sky, then came back and resumed their place amongst the constellations. On another occasion, Dale was determined to meet Bob Lazar, and so he did at a small gathering at the Little Ale-Inn in Rachel, Neveda, just outside Area 51. Dale spoke with Bob Lazar about his experiences, becoming convinced that that Bob was the real deal.

Later, in his professional art career, Dale had the opportunity to work with filmmaker James Fox doing visual FX for his film, The Phenomenon. Dale’s interest in UFOs also brought he and his wife to many UFO Congress conventions in Arizona, where they became good friends with Jason McClellan, Alejandro Rohas, and the late Lee Spiegel.