All About Muppets

Michel Lapointe is a Canadian clown, puppeteer, and actor from Montreal who is known for performing in French-Canadian circuses for over 25 years. His TV puppetry credits include La Bande Magique, Iris the Happy Professor, and Cirque du Soleil: Solstrom, two out of three were French shows. Michel got to work with Canadian Sesame Street (Sesame Park) performers while on Professor Iris, consisting of Pier Paquette, Tim Gosley, Robert Mills, and Jani Lauzon during his time. Lapointe could've performed with other puppeteers on other television shows, but I guess circus is his real passion. Trained to perform at the École de cirque de Montréal and the Option Théâtre at Collège Lionel-Groulx, he appeared as many clown-like characters and contributed puppetry to some of the circus arts. He seems to be another one of those puppeteers to also be a clown, others include Ali DeRegt, Ron Wagner, Vanessa Valliere, and lots of others. According to a mini biography about Michel Lapointe, he's...

Cheri VandenHeuvel is an actress, poet, and puppeteer who is known for acting in many theatres across America. As for puppetry, she serves as a member of GLOP (Glorious Ladies of Puppetry) and recently performed in Sketch Fest with GLOP meets GLOG (Glorious Ladies of Groundlings). Cheri is also in training with Henson's Puppet Up company, which means she could be one of the next women to work on the Puppet Up shows. VandenHeuvel is also an alumnus of The Second City-Detroit Mainstage as a teacher, writer, and performer of sketch comedy like Detroit Sandwich. Her theatre credits include King Lear, The Trojan Women, Around the World in 80 Days, To Kill a Mockingbird, and more. Some of the shows she did have got herself awarded like in Flyin' West, Low Hanging Fruit, and I Go Somewhere Else. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Cheri VandenHeuvel got brought into the world of puppetry with GLOP, meeting several female puppeteers such as Genevieve Flati, Peggy Etra, Kathryn Molloy, Adrian R...

Olive Blackham was a British puppeteer, director, author, and weaver who was best known for being one of the first puppeteers to appear on television in 1948. She was also best known for developing the Roel Puppets Theatre, active from 1932-1961. Olive is definitely one of the historical puppeteers in the world for she did her puppetry career way before Jim Henson created the Muppets. Blackham started out with her production The Ark, which inspired her to become a puppeteer in the first place and later went on to do Roel Puppets. Within Roel Puppets, she tested out some experimental ideas of hers and she even got tour her shows during World War II, that was a dangerous time for puppeteers. Some of the pre-war shows she did took place in theatres, music halls, and even schools, while post-war productions include Chester Miracle Plays, Hagoromo, Widecome Fair, The Proposal, and The Unwilling Martyr, just to name a few. In addition to working with puppets, Olive Blackham also wrote three ...

Kay Yasugi is an Australian puppeteer, puppet maker, illustrator, and teacher who has worked alongside her mother to form the studio Pupperoos. She participated in several international festivals and projects that involved puppetry like the Copenhagen Puppet Festival, Prague Quadrennial, and China Quanzhou International Puppet Festival. Kay has also made and performed puppets for stage and screen including Where is the Green Sheep, The Amazing House, The 13-Storey Treehouse, and more. Yasugi also made puppets for many school productions of the reenactment of famous films and theatrical shows. It's a pity she never worked with any Henson puppeteers from Australia, for she probably wasn't old enough to do Farscape or Bambaloo. Her website stated that she even got to write Korean folktales that were read out loud online by The Wiggles, via the Korean Cultural Centre. Kay Yasugi must have felt thrilled to write folktales for the legendary children's band. In 2024, she created a...

Faye Dupras is a Canadian puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, and producer who has been performing for over 20 years in the theatre industry. She is mostly known for being the founding Artistic Director of the company Cozy Arts since 2018, as well as doing puppet-based programming for schools. Prior to Cozy Arts development, Faye has worked with Brazilian puppeteer and storyteller Andi Rubinstein under the name Foreign Landscape Productions. Within the company, Dupras performed on various productions such as By the Willow, Bird's Eye View, Mama Light, Great Red Ball Rescue, and I Spy Butterfly, just to name a few. She also has experience in making puppets of all kinds, from mini rod puppets to large pageant puppets, each with its own thrilling challenges. She should consider introducing herself to the Henson Company, but that's just a thought, she has her own company to run. At Cozy Arts, Faye Dupras dedicated the company to creating original puppet projects and resources inviti...

Todd Stockman is an actor, ventriloquist, and puppeteer who is known for doing the latter two in film, kids television, theatre, and other venues. He hasn't really worked on any Muppet projects, but IMDb states he assisted on The Muppets Take Manhattan, which of course is false. Todd has however worked with four Muppet performers on the show Whirligig which were Nikki Tilroe, Alison Mork, Rick Lyon, and Bruce Edward Hall. Stockman also got to work alongside the legendary Muppet designer Kermit Love who acted, created, and directed on the series. Apart from Whirligig, he served as a ventriloquism consultant for the Nunsense franchise and the film Cradle Will Rock also puppeteering on that. I read on Muppet Wiki that he also wrote a cover story about Caroll Spinney being Big Bird in a 1989 article of The Puppetry Journal. Some of the other works Todd Stockman did include being principal performer for five MCI commercials as well as performing the ventriloquist dummy named Lenny. He a...

James Barton is a British puppeteer who served as an additional Muppet performer on both The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. I don't know why he didn't do any other productions that involved Muppets. James also puppeteered on the films Little Shop of Horrors and Who Framed Roger Rabbit as well as two television projects known as Potty Time and Hogfather. Outside, Barton founded the puppetry group known as the Jactito Theatre Company in 1976, with his wife Joan Morris. With the group, he traveled throughout the UK and abroad performing adaptations of fairy tales and Shakespeare plays, the latter combining original text with moving images. Some of the places they performed at have included The Royal Opera House, The Barbican, The Royal National Theatre, and more. In addition to working alongside Morris with Jactito, James Barton also performed with David Barclay as he was one of the puppeteers who worked there. Other puppeteers he worked with throughout his car...

Sal Denaro is a designer, sculptor, illustrator, and puppet builder who is best known for working at the Muppet Workshop from 1977-1980, initially working with Don Sahlin. During that time, he's done The Muppet Show, helping to initiate and direct the foam latex casting department (making duplicates and repairs a whole lot easier. Sal also created prototypes and puppets for both The Muppet Movie and The Dark Crystal, including one that became the Blustering Bellowpane Monster. Denaro must have been thrilled to work alongside Sahlin, the legendary puppet builder, right before Sahlin's death in 1978. In addition to Muppets, his other achievements have included assisting Martin P. Robinson in fabricating Audrey II for Little Shop of Horrors, as well as rebuilding Burr Tillstrom's characters for the Broadway show called Side by Side by Sondheim. For television and film, he served as a puppet maker for Pee-wee's Playhouse and an assistant puppeteer on the Flexitoon productio...

Micheline Legendre was a Canadian puppeteer and violinist who was best known for performing on television and stage with her troupe called Les marionettes de Montreal. Her company created 1,170 puppets and did more than 16,000 performances for millions of audience members, that's impressive if you ask me. In addition to puppetry, Micheline also played violin with both the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, for many networks and such. Legendre performed several different productions with her company such as live adaptations of The Nightingale, The Adventures of Tintin, Peter and the Wolf, and Comment Wang-Fô fut Sauvé, most of which involved the music from the symphony orchestras. It's wonderful how one puppeteer can work with marionettes and provide a little violin music within an orchestra as well. She was also a frequent performer on the Radio-Canada, doing more than 400 television shows, though it's unknown what shows she did. Micheline Legendre h...

Violet Philpott was a British puppeteer and author who worked on both television and theatre from the 1950s to the late 2000s. I wonder if she ever met Henson puppeteer Toby Philpott, as they both have the same last name and were close with puppeteer A.R. Philpott. Violet was known for performing on the show The Telegoons where she made marionette figures and voiced a couple of characters. Philpott was also well-known for creating Zippy on Rainbow in 1972, unfortunately she left the production after the first season due to a back injury. Even though she only performed Zippy for one season, the character went on to be successful as Ronnie LeDrew took over and played the role since. As an author, she wrote a children's guide in 1975 known as The KnowHow Book of Puppets, containing illustrations aiming to educate kids on how to make their own puppet shows. The following year, Violet Philpott published a book called Bandicoot and His Friends which can be found in London. Other things s...

Anna Wang is an actress, puppeteer, author, and voice actress who is a performer for GLOP, where she met a lot of female Muppet performers. She is also an alumnus of the Jim Henson Company Puppeteer Fellowship, which I must say is very impressive for her. As a puppeteer, Anna is known for her work on Hanna Rochelle, Radical Cram School, and Sandwiched; she was also a writer, producer, and a music director for the former two. As for voice acting, Wang narrated the Monster Diary series and lent her voice for many commercials for brands like Learning A-Z, Nationwide, and Huntington, just to name a few. I'm glad she got to train with the Henson Company in the past, but I personally wish she would've performed on a Henson project, though technically GLOP used Henson Company puppets. Other GLOP performers she worked with include Edi Patterson, Gwen Hollander, Adrian Rose, and many others. If it's possible, GLOP should make a project, and Anna Wang would be perfect for a role of s...

Tim Cherry-Jones is a British puppeteer, speaker, and puppet maker who has done a couple of projects with both Muppets and Henson Company. He was an additional puppeteer on Muppets Most Wanted and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, though he was uncredited for the former. Tim should've been credited for assisting the main performers on Muppets Most Wanted, it was probably the best adventure of his life. Cherry-Jones is perhaps best known for performing Emlyn the Gremlyn for Live Continuity on BBC from 1999-2002, he also wrote scripts and made props for that. He also puppeteered on many British shows such as Strange Hill High, Nickelodeon International, Newzoids, and the film Jurassic World Dominion. In addition to puppetry, he is also a speaker, making guest appearances at Edge Hill University and at TEDx Banbury. I believe Tim Cherry-Jones has what it takes to be a master puppeteer since he's been doing puppetry from the late 1990s to this present day. His most recent puppet...

Falcon Mantovani is a Brazilian puppeteer and suit performer who is best known for playing Garibaldo on Vila Sesamo since 2018. He replaced cast member Fernando Gomes but got to work with two of the other puppeteers on that show, Neusa de Souza and Magda Crudelli. As Garibaldo, Falcon appeared on several television shows and live events, like on Melhores Anos das Nossas Vidas for example. Outside of his Garibaldo appearances, Mantovani has largely been a suit performer, like appearing as the Cookie Monster walk-around. His other outside credits include an ad, suit performing on Banda do Xaropinho and T.Rex: Um Dinossauro na Amazônia, and puppeteering on the movie Cine Cocoricó: As Aventuras na Cidade. He even got to meet an American Sesame Street performer in his career, Martin P. Robinson who trained him to puppeteer prior to getting Garibaldo. Falcon Mantovani seems to be well trained at wearing a character costume in hot weather, because it tends to get really hot in B...

Damian Bradford is an Australian actor, puppeteer, and stunt performer known for performing stunts on various films and television series. He was one of the puppeteers on the Creature Shop series Farscape where he worked alongside John Eccleston on Rygel. Damian was also one of the puppeteers on Series 1 of The Wiggles with Graeme Haddon, Larissa Deak, Melissa King, and Gavin Sainsbury. Bradford is more of a stunt person since he did stunts for productions since 1994. Some of the films he did stunts on include Street Fighter, Mission: Impossible II, Scooby-Doo, The Railway Man, and Gods of Egypt, to name a few. He also got to perform stunts on a few TV shows with his most notable ones being Search for Treasure Island, Murder Call, and All Saints. It's a shame Damian Bradford never got to puppeteer on any other projects by the Henson Company or some other production company. Still, he got to do at least one Creature Shop series in his career which featured many Australian Muppet per...

Richard Kuhlman is an actor, writer, director, and puppeteer who is best known for performing Cheshire Cat on Adventures in Wonderland. He probably received a lot of training from someone like the Chiodo Brothers to operate the puppet character, as they were the ones who made the puppets. Richard did get to meet two Muppet puppeteers on that show, John Lovelady and Mark Bryan Wilson, the former was Dormouse. Apart from Adventures in Wonderland, Kuhlman mostly acted on numerous films and TV series, and most of the roles he did were either minor or one-shot. It appears that Wonderland was the only project in which he was one of the main performers, not to mention the only one where he operated a puppet. Some of the films he did include Nether World, The Sender, The Last Time, and In the Hive, just to name a few. As for television, Richard Kuhlman appeared on Trust Me, The Building, Tales from the Darkside, and even lending his voice to an episode on Family Guy. At least he gave puppetry ...

Edi Patterson is an actress, writer, comedian, and voice actress who is known for acting and voice acting on numerous projects over the years. She is also a puppeteer with GLOP (Glorious Ladies of Puppetry) where she met others like Gwen Hollander, Adrian Rose, Donna Kimball, and Colleen Smith. Edi lent her voice to many animated series such as We Bare Bears, Mike Tyson Mysteries, The Fungies, and Ten Year Old Tom, to name a few. Patterson also appeared on-camera in several television and film projects such as Partners, The Underground, Black-ish, Vice Principals, Troop Zero, and Plan B. As a writer, she provided scripts for The Underground, The Righteous Gemstones, and two episodes of Saturday Night Live. However, she is best known for being a member of Groundlings Main Comedy, performing there regularly in sketch comedy and improv shows. Edi Patterson is also a member of the legendary Impro Theatre, performing in completely improvised, full-length plays across many American theatres....

Gwen Hollander is an actress, puppeteer, and writer who is known for performing in musical theatres in New York. As an actress, she appeared on-camera in The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, From the Earth to the Moon, Acting School Academy, and more. Gwen is also known for her work on Kidding, where she appeared on-screen as Sheryl, in-suit as Astronotter, and being a puppeteer. Hollander also worked as a puppeteer on Avenue Q, The Astonishing Show Show!, and GLOP. She got to perform alongside a bunch of other puppeteers such as Adrian Rose, Edi Patterson, Stoph Scheer, and Michelle Zamora, all within the company GLOP. It's a shame she hasn't performed in any Henson Company productions, well not yet, you never know when she will. Gwen Hollander has also written for a television series called Dog Therapist as well as numerous shorts (ex. A Song for Jenny). At least with GLOP, she got to meet a whole lot of female Muppet performers, and she probably met male Muppet performers while ...

Stacey Weingarten is a puppet/prop builder, puppeteer, writer, director, and producer who is best known for working with the Henson Company since 2008. She started out as a production assistant on Sesame Street on segments during its 40th season before becoming a puppet wrangler and prop builder for the Muppet Workshop. Stacey has received on-screen credit for her Sesame work since the 45th season of the show. Weingarten also served as a puppet wrangler for the Sesame Street characters within several television and promotional appearances. In addition to Sesame Street, she also worked with the Disney Muppets on The Muppets Mayhem and the upcoming Muppet Show special. I'll bet she felt thrilled to contribute to the famous Disney Muppets on their recent productions. Outside, Stacey Weingarten has worked many productions like Avenue Q, Johnny and the Sprites, Monica's Mixing Bowl, and Rescue Rue, to name a few. She has also puppeteered on numerous projects like Crank Yankers, Imag...

Adrian Parish is a designer and puppeteer who worked on numerous Creature Shop productions. He has designed animatronics for The Flintstones, Buddy, Farscape, Five Children and It, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, to name a few. Adrian was also an uncredited puppeteer on the 1999 film version of Alice in Wonderland operating The Gryphon and Baby, both shared with other performers. Parish got to work alongside Nigel Plaskitt, Rob Tygner, Adrian Getley, Kiran Shah, and others on that film. It's a shame his page on the Muppet Wiki doesn't have personal information about himself, because fans will want to know more about him and what other projects he did. At least there's a picture of him online, as pointed out above found on Muppet Wiki. Adrian Parish also built puppets on Me and My Monsters, his latest Creature Shop production to date, and since then, nobody knows his whereabouts. He returned to puppetry in 2019 on Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker whe...

Robert Bennett is a puppet builder, designer, sculptor, and painter who has been working at the Creature Shop since 2014, when he earned the position after Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge. His credits include Turkey Hollow, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Earth to Ned, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, and more. Robert was also a utility puppeteer on Five Night's at Freddy's, working with Andrea Detwiler and Andrea Gilletti. Bennett had different work experiences at various theme parks in America such as SeaWorld (as a costume designer), Universal Studios (as a sculptor for the Harry Potter area), and as a Walt Disney Imagineer, suit performer, and scenic artist. I'll bet he felt really excited when he first got started at the Creature Shop since he won the competition series, pity the show ended after one season. But still, it's a great honor for him to join the Creature Shop team and work on many projects that involves puppets, costumes, and/or animatronic...