Norman Tempia

Norman Tempia is a puppet builder and performer who worked in the Muppet Workshop for 10 years on projects such as Fraggle Rock and various Muppet specials. Some of the specials he did have included The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, The Christmas Toy, and episodes of The Jim Henson Hour. Norman also worked in the Muppet Workshop for feature films The Muppets Take Manhattan and Follow That Bird, building Hoots the Owl for the latter. Tempia left the workshop after 1990 to follow his own career both building and performing. He worked on numerous live-action films, building or puppeteering animal or monster effects like the Beethoven films, Alien 3, Anchorman, and Ed. Lots of those projects were done through his own company called Animated FX Inc. (with co-owner Dave Nelson). Norman Tempia is probably more interested in providing puppets and animal effects through his company since everything was made so well. The company also designed, built, and revised characters for Greg the Bunny (FOX version) as well as made puppets for various commercials and feature films, such as the ones mentioned above. As for freelance work, he was designer and principal puppeteer on Team America: World Police, puppet builder for The Puzzle Place, and co-created puppets for Land of the Lost (1990s version). All of that work with the Muppets must have really made Norman the person he is today. But it's a shame that Tempia never puppeteered on any of the Muppet projects he worked on. Though I'm sure he'll credit the Muppet Workshop for giving him confidence in pursuing his own career in the puppet world. Some of the other Muppet builders who got their own companies from working with them include Bob Flanagan, Tim Lagasse, and James Kroupa, to name a few. Norman Tempia, you're a great puppet builder as well as a swell puppeteer too. If you're still doing Animated FX, keep on working there for more productions and such. You also were a big help on the original Fraggle Rock, assisting Faz Fazakas in building the Doozers for the series. Thank the Muppets for your career Norman. Such tantalizing skills Tempia!

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