All About Muppets

Bruce Edward Hall was a puppeteer and writer who had performed with the Muppets between the years 1983 and 1990. His most notable project was performing Beth Bear and Masterson Rat in the film The Muppets Take Manhattan. Bruce has also worked on the Muppet Meeting Films as David Lazer Muppet and Smilin' Ed and on the video Neat Stuff To Know & To Do. Hall's last work with the Muppets was on a television special about relations around the world called Free to Be... a Family. I wonder if he did perform Beth Bear, because Beth Bear sounded like a woman. Other puppetry credits include Whirligig and Romper Room as the dual roles of Up-Up (puppet) and Kimble (costume). Bruce Edward Hall was known for writing several historical and fictional works about Chinatown and Chinese people in the US placed into many books. Since he's a seventh generation Chinese-American, he seemed more familiar with writing about Chinese stuff. It's a shame he never wrote any projects while perf...

Fred Newman is an actor, voice actor, writer, and songwriter who is best known for his vocal sound effects, creating various sounds unaided. He was also a fairly inept puppeteer when he was with Jim Henson. In 1987, Fred played the role of puppeteer Gary and also performed three dragon puppets on a sitcom pilot called Puppetman. In 1983, Newman was also one of the performers for Mount Rushmore in some unaired segments for 60 Minutes. He appeared as himself on a Play-Along Video and on an episode of Elmo's World, not to mention provide additional animal sounds for a couple of Sesame Street sketches. Outside of the Muppets, he did loads of voice work, acting, and sound effects for many different projects, most notably, Between the Lions. On that show Fred Newman wrote, voice acted, and appeared as himself in his own segments. His other notable show was Doug as various characters and providing the score for both the Nickelodeon and Disney version. He even lent his voice for many film...

Andrew Spooner is a British puppeteer, actor, and voice actor who has performed in various Muppet and Henson Company projects. For the Muppets, he performed on Muppet Treasure Island (film and CD-ROM), Muppet CD-ROM: The Muppets Inside, and Muppets Most Wanted. Andrew also did the British co-production of Sesame Street, The Furchester Hotel (as Furgus Fuzz and some other guest characters). As for The Jim Henson Company, Spooner was an assistant puppeteer on shows like The Animal Show, That Puppet Game Show, The Hoobs, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Looks like him attending a workshop at Jim Henson's Creature Shop has paid off in puppetry. I've read that his very first puppeteering job was on Spitting Image during the mid 90's. Other people Andrew Spooner worked with include Olly Taylor, Beccy Henderson, Neil Sterenberg, and Sarah Burgess. He has also done voice work for television, video games, and even the Internet as a number of animated characters, which is pr...

Jani Lauzon is a Canadian puppeteer, suit performer, and singer who assisted the Muppets on various projects filmed in Canada. She was an additional puppeteer on Sesame Street's Follow That Bird, did Fraggle Rock and The Jim Henson Hour, and performed Dip in the Sesame Park special Basil Hears a Noise. It would appear that Jani has indeed done Fraggle Rock as stated on her website, but the Wiki does not say that she did that show. Lauzon was even trained by Jim Henson himself to puppeteer on those Muppet projects. Despite her non-speaking Muppet work, she had more major roles outside of the Muppets that were filmed in Canada. She puppeteered on Groundling Marsh (Season 1 only), The Big Comfy Couch (Seasons 1-5 only), Iris the Happy Professor, Longhouse Tales, and Mr. Dressup, just to name a few. I've read that Jani Lauzon also wrote, produced, and directed a short called Just One Word which must sound interesting for those that never heard of it. She's also done some playw...

Lara MacLean is a puppeteer, puppet builder, and wrangler who is known for being part of the crew in the Muppet Workshop and the Creature Shop. On Sesame Street, she played background characters and also made puppets since 1996. Lara hasn't really voiced a lot of characters, but she did perform a minor speaking role, a monster named after her, in a Sesame Street resource video. MacLean also puppeteered in various Sesame Street videos and on Sesame English (assisting John Tartaglia). She later joined the team of Puppet Heap in rebuilding some of the Muppets for their return in The Muppets (2011). Other than Sesame Street, she worked on the puppets for Bear in the Big Blue House, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, The Happytime Murders, and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock. Outside, Lara MacLean served as an additional puppeteer for Johnny and the Sprites, The Book of Pooh, and Helpsters. I don't know why she only worked with the Muppets in the workshop and not on-screen. She has o...

Terri Hardin is a puppeteer, actress, and stand-up comedienne who is known for puppeteering on a number of Creature Shop productions. She was an animatronic operator/puppeteer for Dinosaurs, The Country Bears, and puppeteered on The Flintstones feature film. Terri has also puppeteered on Muppet projects such as Muppet*Vision 3D, Muppet Classic Theater, and Muppets Tonight, the former where she met Jim Henson. Hardin didn't voice the characters she puppeteered but should have for she's got a talented voice. That would make her another female Muppet performer. However, she has puppeteered outside of the Muppets and the Creature Shop as seen on The Puzzle Place, Popples, and in the movie Theodore Rex, just to name a few. Terri Hardin must be the luckiest puppeteer to be given a job at Disneyland for the Disney Studios contacted her during her career of sculpting character costumes at Universal Studios Hollywood. After eight interviews, she got the job and helped to design some of...

William Todd-Jones is a British puppeteer, writer, director, and movement consultant, known for doing various Muppet and Creature Shop productions. For the Muppets, he performed a variety of Muppets for two films, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. For the former, William also assisted Karen Prell and Rob Tygner in performing a ghost. Todd-Jones also performed Mopatop on Mopatop's Shop for series 3 and 4 (replacing Mak Wilson), that was his only title character. His first Creature Shop project was in Labyrinth as one of the Goblin puppeteers. Other Creature Shop films have included The Adventures of Pinocchio, Lost in Space, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and that's only a couple. Outside of Muppets and Creature Shop, William Todd-Jones puppeteered on Little Shop of Horrors, The Chronicles of Narnia (BBC rendition), and What's Your News?, to name a few. I have also read that he's been involved as a patron for the London-based charity ...

Mike Petersen is a Canadian puppeteer, actor, writer, teacher, and director who performed on Fraggle Rock (as various characters) and Labyrinth (as a Goblin puppeteer). But why did he only puppeteer on those two projects created by the Henson Company? Mike could have worked on other shows involving the Muppets or be an additional puppeteer in the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird. Petersen must have been too busy to do any more projects featuring Muppet characters. But even though he didn't do a lot of shows involving the Muppets, he still puppeteers on numerous outside productions for both TV and theatre. His most notable television projects include The Mighty Jungle, Toopy and Binoo, and the recent show Miss Persona (as Brandon Bear). As for his theater work, Mike Petersen performed on lots of productions with the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia from 1984-1994, travelling around the world doing various puppet performances. His other theatre projects include Canadian productions...

Jerry Juhl was a puppeteer, writer, and lyricist who worked with the Muppets as the head writer for almost four decades. He also played a key role in creating the personalities of many famous Muppet characters and scripted five Muppet feature films. Jerry started off as a puppeteer, his first work with Jim Henson was on Sam and Friends filling in for Jane Henson during the last season. Perhaps Juhl's most notable puppet character was Taminella Grinderfall who appeared in a couple of other projects, starting with a pilot called Tales of Tinkerdee. Years later, he did his final puppetry work on two story specials; The Frog Prince and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen. Soon he found his true purpose in life, and that was writing. For the next thirty years, Jerry Juhl continued to write for numerous Muppet productions and not a lot of shows outside of Muppets. He was the head writer for both The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, and also did the scripts and lyrics for The Great Santa Clau...

Liz Hara is a puppeteer, puppet builder, wrangler, and writer known for her work on Sesame Street. I don't understand why she is given the credit of a Muppet performer when she hasn't puppeteered and voiced a character for that show. Although Liz did receive writing credit for seasons 47 and 48 on the show, she didn't receive any performing credit during season 46. Later on, Liz Hara did get credit for performing in Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas. She has also worked as a designer and builder at Puppet Heap for the Muppet's latest feature film Muppets Most Wanted. A shame though, Hara can be another great performer for the Muppets too. But I'm just saying, she needs to perform a character so she can indeed be a Muppet performer just like all of the others that have performed. Liz Hara has also worked outside of Sesame Street separating between puppeteering and writing for various other projects. Her puppetry work can be seen on Kidding, Transylvania Television...

Noreen Young is a puppeteer, puppet builder, and producer who performed Dodi on the Canadian co-production of Sesame Street, Sesame Park (replacing Robert Mills). It's a pity she never did any other characters on the show (at least I don't think she has). Noreen could have done other Canadian Henson projects, like Fraggle Rock which featured her performing partner Bob Stutt. Young should have been with the Muppets when she had the chance. Despite her limited Muppet work, she did more well known work outside of Sesame Park. Perhaps her best known work was performing and building the puppets for Readalong and Under the Umbrella Tree (as Gloria Gopher and others). Noreen Young also built puppets for The Noddy Shop (which she also performed on), The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, and Today's Special, to name a few. In fact she has her own company where she built and performed the puppets for those shows called Noreen Young Productions, under her own name. Puppeteering is not...

Susan Beattie is a British puppeteer who works mainly on stage and occasionally in Henson Company projects. The main show she performed on was Mopatop's Shop as various guest characters. Susan was also an additional puppeteer on Muppets Most Wanted and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. I don't know what happened to Beattie between her times of Henson work. Even though she performed several characters on Mopatop's Shop, that still only counts as one show where she was main. She also did the Creature Shop film The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as one of the many puppeteers alongside other performers. Outside of Henson, Susan Beattie's puppetry was mainly seen in British stage shows, but I think she puppeteered on a Comic Relief movie in 2015. I'm not sure about this either, but I'm guessing she was also one of the puppeteers for an Animated All Star music video which was known as the BBC Children in Need. Her other puppetry work can be seen on Mongrels,...

Christopher Hayes is a puppeteer, actor, and writer, who served as a performer on Sesame Street since doing the workshop in 2014. His two main characters on the show are Hoots the Owl (since 2019) and Elijah (Wes' father). Christopher started out as an uncredited assistant for its 46th season but soon got credited in the Christmas special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas. Hayes later returned in 2019 to perform for the 50th Anniversary of Sesame Street. Starting in 2019, he was cast as the new performer of Hoots the Owl, performing him in the 50th anniversary special and the jazz concert called A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration. He subsequently performed Hoots on the show in its 51st season and other appearances since. In 2021, Christopher Hayes was cast as the performer of Elijah who was introduced in the "Coming Together" outreach initiative and will appear on the show proper pretty soon. Outside of Sesame Street, he's done more acting than puppeteering, ...

John Pattison is a Canadian puppeteer, ventriloquist, writer, and producer who performed a variety of characters on Fraggle Rock and served as an additional performer. He also co-wrote one of the second season episodes on that show. John has also performed in the first Sesame Street film Follow That Bird as one of the Board of Birds members during the beginning. Outside, Pattison performed on Groundling Marsh (as Hegdish), Eric's World (as C.J. and also was the co-creator), an episode of The Zack Files, and on an episode of Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show (as himself with his ventriloquist dummy Garloo). He also served as co-creator, writer, and producer of Comedy Central's series Puppets Who Kill which came from a Fringe Festival one-man show. He seems to be a very talented person, not to mention a guy with a great sense of humor. John Pattison also puppeteered in two feature films, The Santa Clause (uncredited) and Bride of Chucky. As a ventriloquist/comedian, he...

Warrick Brownlow-Pike is a British puppeteer, puppet designer, and writer who performed Gonger on both The Furchester Hotel and Sesame Street since its 48th season. On The Furchester Hotel, he has also done a variety of hotel guest characters. Other than that, Warrick has mostly been an assistant for The Muppets and Sesame characters whenever they make appearances in the UK. Brownlow-Pike was also the lead UK puppeteer for Muppets Most Wanted (as well as playing assorted Muppets). Not only has he worked on Sesame Street and the Muppets, but he also did two Henson Company shows; That Puppet Game Show and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (as several characters and 2nd assistant puppet captain). He must be very talented to perform on all of those productions involving the Muppets, Sesame Street, or other Henson Company projects. Outside of all of that, Warrick Brownlow-Pike has done several outside puppetry work including his best known character Dodge T. Dog. Dodge T. Dog appeared ...

Anney McKilligan Ozar is a freelance puppeteer, wrangler, and puppet builder who frequently works at the Jim Henson Company in NYC. Her puppetry work can be seen on Bear in the Big Blue House (as Rita) and the stage show version of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. As for the rest, Anney mostly built puppets for both The Muppets and Sesame Street. From object puppets to Anything Muppets to rebuild of classic characters, Ozar has had a lot of talent making puppets look terrific and also like old times. She also made various characters for Henson projects like Pajanimals, Puppet Up, and even The Happytime Murders. But that's not all, she also builds, wrangles, and performs puppets outside of her work with Sesame Street and the Muppets. Anney McKilligan Ozar did shows like The Book of Pooh, Blue's Room, Johnny and the Sprites, and an episode of Chappelle's Show, to name a few. In addition to puppets, she also designs costumes for many shows too, like Jack's Big Music ...

Kristina Donnelly is probably one of the youngest puppeteers to ever work with the Muppets. She was granted the wish of performing with the Muppets by some kind of foundation called the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Her character was Baab the Sheep in Muppets from Space. Originally, Kristina requested to be an actress in a Muppet film. But Kristina was given a choice to act or puppeteer from Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire, and she chose to puppeteer. Donnelly became very close with Goelz and Whitmire during her availability on set and said Rizzo the Rat was her favorite Muppet. She must be one of the luckiest girls to have her Muppet wish granted by a foundation. Sadly, Kristina did not get a chance to do more with the Muppets, because she died after the movie was released. Not only did Kristina Donnelly do only one character, but she never got to see Muppets from Space in theaters nor got to see her work of Baab. At least Donnelly got gifts from the cast and crew toward the end of filming...

Dorien Davies is a puppeteer, writer, and voice actress who was more of a background performer for the Muppets. She puppeteered Beaker in the "Applause" encore for a Christmas special called Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular. Even though Dorien hasn't performed a character when she was with the Muppets, she obtained more characters on several Jim Henson Company projects either digital or live. Davies performed on Julie's Greenroom (as Fizz), Henson Digital Puppetry shows, Earth to Ned, and Duff's Happy Fun Bake Time. As for adults, she has done a couple of Henson Alternative projects, most notably Puppet Up since 2007 and on The Happytime Murders (as Sandra White and core puppeteer). She has gone from performing a musical kid to a hidden antagonist when it comes to puppeteering for people of all ages. Outside of the Jim Henson Company, Dorien Davies puppeteered on Sock Puppet Showgirls, Dark Tandy, Far from Raven's Home, and more. As for he...

Gabriel Velez is a puppeteer and impressionist who has periodically worked with the Muppets since the early 1980's. He voiced and performed Kermit and Fozzie for a Disney World Muppet Test Video, but no proof exists at the moment. For Sesame Street, he mostly performed two characters, Osvaldo and his most popular character Dani. The character was mainly used in asthma-related projects. Other than those roles, Gabriel was an assistant/background puppeteer in The Muppets Take Manhattan and Elmo's Christmas Countdown. In between 1983 and 1984, Gabriel got to work with Fraggle Rock by puppeteering the 23 ft. tall Junior Gorg for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float. I wonder if he had any difficulty operating a giant character on a float. As least the suit kept him warm from the cold weather outside the suit. I've read that Velez has never puppeteered before he joined the Jim Henson Company. He was lucky to be taught and trained in the art of puppetry by five legendary...

Ron Mueck is an Australian sculptor, puppeteer, and puppet builder who was recruited by Dave Goelz to come work with Henson. As a puppeteer he performed in a few Henson projects; his most notable ones were The Tale of Bunny Picnic (as Storyteller Bunny) and Labyrinth (as Ludo). On Fraggle Rock, Ron served as an assistant/alternate puppeteer for Uncle Traveling Matt when his postcards took place in Australia. Not only has Mueck performed, but he also worked with the Muppet design team at the NY Muppet Workshop and the Creature Shop in London. He designed several characters for a lot of different Henson projects such as Puppetman, Dreamchild, The Ghost of Faffner Hall, Mother Goose Stories, and The Storyteller. Outside of Henson, he has his own puppet workshop, where his company built the puppets for a show called Gophers. Ron Mueck also puppeteered on a children's show called Shirl's Neighborhood, where he performed various animals. He's now a successful hyper-realist sc...

John Eccleston is a British puppeteer, writer, and puppet designer/builder. He performed in a variety of Henson and Muppet projects, starting with The Storyteller. His most notable projects with the Henson Company was on The Animal Show (replacing Mak Wilson as various characters) and on The Hoobs (as Groove for Seasons 1-3). As for the Muppets, John has been an additional puppeteer for two films, The Muppets Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, both adapted from classic books. Eccleston is also known for doing Creature Shop's Farscape as lead puppeteer. For Farscape, he flew to Australia to work on that show as Rygel and Pilot, with other puppeteers like Graeme Haddon, Dave Collins, and Sean Masterson. He even worked with the Muppets on a CD-ROM project. John Eccleston must be one of the luckiest puppeteers to not only do TV and film, but also a Muppet computer production. Outside of Henson/Muppets, he was a presenter for two British shows The Disney Club and Get the Pictu...

Alison McGowan is a British puppeteer who worked on several Muppet and Henson projects filmed in the United Kingdom. Her most notable Henson project was on Mopatop's Shop as various characters during the third and fourth seasons. Other than that, Alison served as one of the additional performers for Muppets Most Wanted and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. McGowan should have done a lot more work with the Muppets, other than be an assistant, she should have speaking roles too. Her work outside is a little bigger than her time with both Muppet and Henson Company. Her TV credits placed her on Bug Alert, Sooty, and Tikkabilla while film credits put her in two Star Wars films (one of them being a spin-off). According to the Muppet Wiki, Alison McGowan studied puppetry in London at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Her theatre work includes Improbable Theater and Shockheaded Peter troupe, as well as her very own show called Johnny's Liver. So despite the little television ...

Cynthia Adler is a puppeteer and voice actress who has performed on The Muppet Show for only two episodes. Despite her short time with the Muppets, she did create some memorable characters. Adler did the duck in episode 113 and she played a woman named Cynthia Birdley and a pink creature that sang "You Do Something to Me" in episode 112. Why did she only do two episodes when working with the Muppets? I mean she could have remained the female performer until Louise Gold took over for the second season. Cynthia Adler did have the chance to train in the art of Muppetry provided by both legendary puppeteers, Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Well Adler may not be a puppeteer, but at least she is still lending her voice to television. Her voice can be heard in several Revion and Estee Lauder commercials and promos/documentaries for various television programs. She also voiced characters in many Rankin/Bass productions, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, and even in two specials from th...