All About Muppets

Yamina Peerzada is a Pakistani puppeteer, actress, and singer who is the performer of Rani on the Urdu-language Pakistani co-production of Sesame Street, Sim Sim Hamara. She was drawn to performing art at a young age did her first stage play at a festival in 1994. Yamina seemed to have spent a short time on Sim Sim Hamara because the show was cancelled a year after it first aired. Peerzada has performed as a puppeteer with the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in many countries such as Scotland, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and many more. I've read that Sim Sim Hamara is a Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop that has collaborated with Sesame Street (you can tell by the puppet looks). She is also a singer with two music videos called Chal Merey Saath and Moray Sayyan. Yamina Peerzada was the first Pakistani actress to perform a One-Woman Show in one place than another one in another place. Her other TV credits have included four serials, which is rare. It's rare that a puppeteer acts on-scree...

Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed is a Bangladeshi puppeteer, voice actress, and actress who has performed on the Bangladesh co-production of Sesame Street, Sisimpur. On that show she did Tuktuki and Vuto from 2004 to 2009, mainly five years. Quazi should have remained on Sisimpur until it stopped. Nawshaba Ahmed seems to be one of the beautiful international puppeteers yet. Outside of Sisimpur, she has acted in many films such as Udhao, Bhuban Majhi, Dhaka Attack, and many more coming up. Though I wish she would have puppeteered on other projects filmed in Bangladesh other. Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed was probably trained by Martin P. Robinson to perform a puppet. She also voice acted, though I would like to see proof on what shows her voice can be heard. She must be happier acting for film than working on a children's show. It's probably for the best that Quazi remains doing what makes her happy, and that is acting. But I wish Nawshaba Ahmed would think about how much fun she had on Sisimpur and...

Toby Towson is a gymnast and dancer who was the very first performer of Barkley on Sesame Street for the 9th and 10th seasons. He also performed Barkley in A Special Sesame Street Christmas, filming must have taken place between those two seasons. Toby was hired to model for the dog before he was offered a one year contract by Henson since he had a personal friendship with the Henson family. I read Towson had a career in gymnastics, acrobatics, and dance which is probably why he was hired to work on Sesame Street. But I wish he would have received credit for performing Barkley. I've also read that he was also a former NCAA men's gymnastics champion. Toby Towson seems to be another person into gymnastics like Denise Cheshire who also puppeteered for a Muppet project. Brian Muehl, Fred Garbo, and Bruce Connelly later took over the roles of Barkley as years pass. He is now living with his wife in Maryland and has degrees from two Universities. I wonder if Toby ever misses performi...

Kip Rathke is a puppet, toy, and themed entertainment designer and builder who is known for designing and building Muppet characters in the Workshop. I've read that his career began when he glued feathers on Big Bird for Kermit Love. Kip also served as an uncredited puppeteer extra for The Muppets Take Manhattan in the wedding finale toward the end. Years later, Rathke returned to the Muppet Workshop to work on Muppet, Sesame Street, and Henson Company projects. For the Muppets, he built puppets on Muppet Treasure Island and Muppets Tonight, while on Sesame Street, he worked on the series and the special Elmo Saves Christmas. As for the Henson Company, he has built puppets on The Secret Life of Toys, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, and Bear in the Big Blue House. Outside, Kip Rathke has spent years designing and building for 3/Design Studio, working on both Eureeka's Castle and Little Monsters while his main freelance project was The Puzzle Place. I've read that he also d...

Michael Winsor is a puppeteer, voice actor, and singer who has performed in various Henson Company projects, with his most notable being Pajanimals. He replaced John Kennedy as Apollo in the series that took place in Ireland. Michael was also an assistant puppeteer on The Furchester Hotel and That Puppet Game Show. Winsor should have been given the name of Muppet performer since he technically played two of his own characters to perform. He got to work alongside partners such as Victor Yerrid, Donna Kimball, Sarah Lyle, and Paul Currie to name a few. Outside of Pajanimals, Simon Buckley has given him puppetry training back in 1998, after inheriting the role of Basil Brush. Michael Winsor performed Basil Brush for many television shows, TV appearances, and live. He has also lent his voice for two TV shows called The Moose and Big Barn Farm. I've read that in addition to acting, he is also a golfer who has played it for many charity events. Michael seems to be the only puppeteer I...

Sangya Ojha is an Indian puppeteer, voice actress, and actress who has performed various characters on the Indian co-production of Sesame Street, Gali Gali Sim Sim. Her main characters are Aanchoo, Raya, and the Indian version of Elmo. Sangya was part of the first group of performers selected to perform the main Muppet cast of the series in 2006, trained Martin P. Robinson and Noel MacNeal. Ojha also been training puppeteers for two international co-productions of Sesame Street. She probably made friends with Ghazal Javed since she also performs on Gali Gali Sim Sim. I've read that she was interviewed for a podcast that interviews puppeteers called Puppet Tears. How did Sangya Ojha learn to speak English before the interview? She probably received learned to speak English while being trained by Martin and Noel. It would appear that Puppet Tears was the first American podcast to interview her from home. I've also read that she gained three more characters on the tenth season of ...

Daphne Zandberg is a Dutch puppeteer who mainly worked on Sesamstraat, the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street, operating the right arm of a character named Tommie. It's a shame that she didn't do any other characters on the series. Zandberg is probably bored right now since Sesamstraat was cancelled in 2019 and there aren't a lot of Dutch shows featuring puppetry. Daphne's outside puppet credits include a leading role in two series, Bibaboerderij and WaWa with two Sesamstraat friends. At least she got to do starring characters outside of the series. Renee Menschaar and Jogchem Jalink were the colleagues that she worked with on Sesamstraat. Daphne Zandberg should have asked if she could do more than assist on the series. She's spent sixteen years on the series and she didn't even bother to ask for a character. It's probably because there weren't a lot of Muppets on Sesamstraat during its run. Daphne must have been upset when Sesamstraat was cancelled an...

Lynn Hippen is a puppeteer who only performed in an unaired episode of Sesame Street focusing on the issue, divorce. She provided the voice of Sally Snuffleupagus while Noel MacNeal puppeteered. Lynn was brought in because producers thought Sally's voice should sound female. Hippen's only other work that featured puppetry was Eureeka's Castle as two characters. I don't know why she didn't do any other characters on Sesame Street other than someone's voice. She probably didn't have enough confidence to work within the popular show. Personally, I believe Lynn Hippen would have been a natural for Sesame Street. She's another one of those puppeteers that don't have a lot of info about themselves, others have included David Maida, Patricia Lewis, and more. She should come out of wherever she is hiding now and show the world that she's still alive. From a small mouse to the voice of a Snuffleupagus, Lynn did very few characters and needs to do more tha...

Craig Crane is a British puppeteer and animator who has worked on The Muppets Christmas Carol and other projects, though I would like to see proof. I've read that he was interested in working with the Jim Henson Company from inspiration by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Craig was offered training by Kevin Clash at the London Workshop, afterwards. Crane went off to puppeteer on Nickelodeon UK in 1994, where he not only played puppet characters, but was the very first person to do a CGI character for live television, way before the Henson Digital Performance System was invented. He must be very proud to create a digital character before the Henson Company invented something. Craig Crane's other outside puppetry work includes Spitting Image, Rainbow, and Noel's House Party, in addition to CG characters for films like The Adventures of Pinocchio. I've read that he felt the true Golden Age of television and film puppeteering had since passed and believed that shows like Fraggle Ro...

Tim Blaney is a puppeteer and voice actor who worked on numerous Muppet and Henson projects. He has started out on an episode of Dinosaurs before moving on to the Muppets. For the Muppets, Tim has performed on several episodes of Muppets Tonight, Studio DC: Almost Live, Muppet Classic Theater, and Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular. Blaney also voice acted on a Sesame Street video game which is called Once Upon a Monster. His film work placed him in The Muppets (2011), Muppets Most Wanted, & Where the Wild Things Are (to name a couple). Outside of the Muppets, Tim Blaney did various projects such as the Short Circuit films where he performed the robot Johnny 5. He has also played Frank the Pug in Men in Black and its sequels and puppeteered on Flight of the Navigator and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His voice can be heard in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Uncle Grandpa, and many more. Tim is one of the very few Muppet puppeteers to work on a Cartoon Network s...