Ian Petrella

Ian Petrella is an puppeteer and actor whose only performance with the Henson Company was on Brats of the Lost Nebula. He started acting when he was only three years old and is best known for playing Randy Parker in the classic holiday film, A Christmas Story. Ian was still acting when he was a teen and soon he started to study improvisational comedy with Groundlings Comedy Theater. Petrella was later production assistant on a puppet show before studying puppetry himself. Outside of Lost Nebula, his other puppeteer credits include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers franchise. I don't know why Ian Petrella has not performed with the Muppets or other projects by the Henson Company after 1998. He performed puppetry independently for film and stage so he would have been perfect for one of the Muppets films like Muppets from Space. At least he got to work alongside other performers in Brats of the Lost Nebula like Bill Barretta, Matt Ficner, Trish Leeper, and John Kennedy, to name a few. I hope that someday Ian will join up with Barretta again and ask if he can assist the Muppets for their next production. Whether it will be live on stage or a television special, Petrella has what it takes to assist the main Muppet performers. He is probably the only Creature Shop puppeteer to perform in the Power Rangers franchise. Ian Petrella, from a child star to a grown puppeteer, you will always be a film star no matter how old you are. As long as you performed in a Henson Company project, you still worked with Muppet performers on that one show. Just be sure that you'll remember how much fun you had working with Bill  Barretta in 1998. Don't stop working Ian. You are a star of all ages Petrella!