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• 
  

• 
  Atlanta
  Atlanta ( /ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally  /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
  Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city." With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.
  
  wn.com/Atlanta
• 
  Disneyland
  Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of The Walt Disney Company. Known as Disneyland when it was dedicated on July 17, 1955, and still almost universally referred to by that name, it is the only theme park to be designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. In 1998, the theme park was re-branded Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the larger Disneyland Resort complex.
  Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. He initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent to his studios in Burbank to entertain fans who wished to visit; however, he soon realized that the proposed site was too small. After hiring a consultant to help determine an appropriate site for his project, Walt bought a 160-acre (65 ha) site near Anaheim in 1953. Construction began in 1954 and the park was unveiled during a special televised press event on the ABC Television Network on July 17, 1955.
  
  wn.com/Disneyland
• 
  Disneyland Resort
  The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining, and entertainment area known as Downtown Disney.
  The area now known as the Disneyland Resort was developed by Walt Disney in the 1950s and for over 40 years was known simply as Disneyland. When it opened to guests in 1955, the property consisted of Disneyland, its 100-acre (0.40 km²) parking lot, and a hotel known as the Disneyland Hotel, owned and operated by Disney's business partner Jack Wrather.
  After succeeding with the multi-park, multi-hotel business model at Walt Disney World in Florida, Disney decided to apply the same business model in Anaheim and acquired large parcels of land adjacent to Disneyland. This included purchasing the Disneyland Hotel from the Wrather company as well as the Pan Pacific Hotel from its Japanese owners; Disney re-branded the latter as the Disneyland Pacific Hotel. After its first publicly known proposal for a second theme park in Anaheim was scrapped, construction began in 1998 on a theme park called Disney's California Adventure Park, later renamed Disney California Adventure Park; a hotel called Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa; a renovation, renaming, and re-theming of the Disneyland Pacific Hotel as the Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel; and an admission-free shopping and dining area called Downtown Disney. During the expansion, the name Disneyland Resort was coined to refer to the entire Disney complex, while Disneyland Park was coined to refer to the original theme park.
  
  wn.com/Disneyland_Resort
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  Epcot
  Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named EPCOT Center. In 1994, the "Center" was dropped from the park's name, and by 1996, the park was simply named Epcot. In 2010, Epcot hosted approximately 10.83 million guests, ranking it the third most visited theme park in the United States, and fifth most visited theme park in the world.
  EPCOT is an acronym of Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, which was the name originally given by Walt Disney to a conceptual Utopian city of the future that he had wanted to build on the site that is now Walt Disney World. Disney's original vision of EPCOT was for a model community, home to twenty thousand residents, which would be a test bed for city planning and organization. Disney's vision was not realized as funding and permission to start work on his Florida property would not be granted until he agreed to build the Magic Kingdom first. Disney died before the Magic Kingdom opened and the Walt Disney Company decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city.
  
  wn.com/Epcot
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  Hong Kong Disneyland
  Hong Kong Disneyland (Chinese: 香港迪士尼樂園) is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is the first theme park located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks. The park opened to visitors on 12 September 2005. Disney attempted to avoid problems of cultural backlash by attempting to incorporate Chinese culture, customs, and traditions when designing and building the resort, including adherence to the rules of Feng Shui. For instance, a bend was put in a walkway near the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort entrance so good "qi" (chi) energy wouldn't flow into the South China Sea.
  The park consists of five themed areas: Main Street, U.S.A., Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland and Toy Story Land. The theme park's cast members speak in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin. Guide maps are printed in traditional and simplified Chinese as well as English, French, and Japanese.
  The park has a daily capacity of 34,000 visitors — the least of all Disneyland parks. It has so far fallen short of its targeted visitorship figures. The park attracted 5.2 million visitors in its first year, below its target of 5.6 million. Visitor numbers fell 20% in the second year to 4 million, inciting criticisms from local legislators. However, the park attendance slightly increased by 8% in the third year, attracting a total of 4.5 million visitors in 2007. In 2009, the park attendance again increased by 2% to 4.8 million visitors. The attendance continued to surge and received 5.23 million guests in the 2009/2010 fiscal year. Since the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, the theme park has hosted over 25 million guests. According to AECOM and TEA, Hong Kong Disneyland is the 15th most visited theme park in the world in 2010, with 5.2 million visitors.
  
  wn.com/Hong_Kong_Disneyland
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  Magic Kingdom Park
  Magic Kingdom is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. In 2011, the park hosted approximately 17 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the world.
  Although Walt Disney himself had been highly involved in planning The Florida Project, The Walt Disney Company began construction on Magic Kingdom and the entire resort in 1967 after his death. The park was built similarly to the existing Disneyland in California but was built in a larger area and improved upon the design of Disneyland in several ways.
  There are several anecdotes relating to reasons for some of the features of Walt Disney World, and Magic Kingdom specifically. According to one story, Walt Disney once saw a Frontierland cowboy walking through Tomorrowland at Disneyland. He disliked that the cowboy intruded on the futuristic setting of Tomorrowland and wanted to avoid situations like this in the new park. Therefore, Magic Kingdom was built over a series of tunnels called utilidors, a portmanteau of utility and corridor. These tunnels allow employees (aka cast members) to move through the park out of sight from guests, maintaining the show's cast.
  
  wn.com/Magic_Kingdom_Park
• 
  Pixar
  Pixar Animation Studios /ˈpɪksɑr/ is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned twenty-six Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. It is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images. Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm before it was acquired by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs in 1986. The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion; the transaction made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney.
  Pixar has produced twelve feature films, beginning with Toy Story in 1995. It was followed by A Bug's Life in 1998, Toy Story 2 in 1999, Monsters, Inc. in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003, The Incredibles in 2004, Cars in 2006, Ratatouille in 2007, WALL-E in 2008, Up in 2009, Toy Story 3 (to date, the highest-grossing animated film of all-time, grossing over $1 billion worldwide) in 2010, and Cars 2 in 2011. Eleven of the films have received critical and financial success, with the notable exception being Cars 2, which received substantially less praise than Pixar's previous films. As of February 2012, its films have made over $7 billion worldwide, with its $602 million average gross by far the highest of any studio in the industry. In addition, all of the films produced by Pixar are among the top 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Finding Nemo (#27), Up (#44), and Toy Story 3 (#8) all in the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time.
  
  wn.com/Pixar
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  Tinseltown
  Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
  On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz^{[citation needed]} – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.
  
  wn.com/Tinseltown

• Alice Dinnean
  Alice Dinnean-Vernon is a puppeteer and creative writer who works at The Jim Henson Company. Dinnean-Vernon has performed on many children's television shows such as Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, Cousin Skeeter, Jim Henson's Pajanimals, Sid the Science Kid and Jack's Big Music Show. She also did work on various non-Muppet productions such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
  In the early 1990s, she performed additional characters for the children's TV series, Sesame Street. Some of her characters include Sherry Netherland, the owner of the Furry Arms Hotel after Julianne Buescher left the show in 1993 and Phoebe also known as Groogel, a member of the segment, Monster Clubhouse, from 2001 to 2003. Dinnean-Vernon left the show in 2004.
  Non-Muppet productions in which she has performed include the horror-humor TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. On the show, she performed as a demon puppet in As You Were and a living mummy hand in Life Serial. After the series ended in 2003, Dinnean-Vernon performed the puppet-like character of Angel in the episode Smile Time along with Peter Linz, and also performed Camilla the Chicken and Foo-Foo, on Muppets Wizard of Oz
  
  wn.com/Alice_Dinnean
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  Amy Adams
  Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress and singer. Adams was born in Vicenza, Italy to American parents, and began her performing career on stage in dinner theaters, before making her screen debut in the 1999 black comedy film Drop Dead Gorgeous. After a series of television guest appearances and roles in B movies, she was cast in the role of Brenda Strong in 2002's Catch Me If You Can, but her breakthrough role was in the 2005 independent film Junebug, playing Ashley Johnsten, for which she received critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
  Adams subsequently starred in Disney's 2007 film Enchanted, a critical and commercial success, and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance as Princess Giselle. She received her second Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations the following year for her role as a young nun, Sister James, in Doubt. Though she has appeared in a range of dramatic and comedic roles, Adams has gained a reputation for playing characters with cheerful and sunny dispositions. Adams starred in Sunshine Cleaning with Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin, and the following year appeared as Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. She appeared in Julie & Julia in 2009 portraying writer Julie Powell followed by Leap Year in 2010. Her recent role as Charlene Fleming in The Fighter earned Adams her third Academy Award nomination, her third Golden Globe Award, second BAFTA Award, and fifth Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. In 2011, Adams appeared in the critically acclaimed musical film The Muppets alongside Jason Segel. She is scheduled to play Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman reboot Man of Steel in 2013.
  
  wn.com/Amy_Adams
• Bill Barretta
  Bill Barretta (b. June 19, 1964) has been performing with the Muppets since 1991, when he performed the body of family father Earl Sinclair on Dinosaurs. He later developed several new characters on Muppets Tonight, including Pepe the King Prawn, Johnny Fiama and Bobo the Bear.
  Along with having his own Muppet characters, Bill has taken over several of Jim Henson's roles, such as Dr. Teeth, Rowlf the Dog, Mahna Mahna and Swedish Chef, and briefly took over Jerry Nelson's role of Lew Zealand.
  His film debut as a principal puppeteer was in 1996's Muppet Treasure Island as Clueless Morgan.
  In addition, Bill has produced two of the Muppets' television movies, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. Bill also provides additional voices on Kim Possible. He is a native of Yardley, Pennsylvania.
  His recent performance was in Disney's The Muppets.
  Bill is the younger brother of the children's book author and illustrator, Gene Barretta.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Bill_Barretta
• Bill Prady
  Bill Prady (born June 7, 1960) is a television writer and producer who has worked on American sitcoms and variety programs, including Married... with Children, Dream On, Star Trek: Voyager, Dharma & Greg, and The Gilmore Girls and co-created The Big Bang Theory.
  He began his writing career working for Jim Henson's Muppets. During his tenure at The Muppets, he was visually caricatured as the puppet "Chip" (The Jim Henson Hour). In 1991, Prady was nominated for an Emmy award for co-writing the posthumous tribute to Jim Henson entitled "The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson."
  He wrote the Disney theme Park attractions Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.
  He is currently the executive producer and co-creator of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
  Prady is one of a number of graduates of the Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, MI currently working in entertainment (others include actors Selma Blair and Douglas Sills, writer Todd A. Kessler and former ABC president Stuart Bloomberg). In 2009, he was presented with the schools' Distinguished Alumni award. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
  
  wn.com/Bill_Prady
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  Bob McGrath
  Robert Emmet "Bob" McGrath (born June 13, 1932) is an American singer and actor best known for playing the human character Bob on Sesame Street. He was born in Ottawa, Illinois. McGrath was named for Irish patriot Robert Emmet.
  Along with Susan, played by Loretta Long, Bob has been one of the two longest lasting human characters on the series. A Noggin segment proclaimed the four decades of Bob when promoting Sesame Street on that network.
  McGrath has said that his two favorite moments on Sesame Street were a spoof of The Gift of the Magi on a Christmas special, and the 1983 sequence that candidly addressed the death of longtime character Mr. Hooper, played by actor Will Lee who had died the previous year.
  Bob's character had a long-lost brother named Minneapolis, an Indiana Jones-like action hero (played by Jeff Goldblum) who took Bob on a search for the Golden Cabbage of Snuffertiti with Big Bird and Snuffleupagus in 1990.
  McGrath is a 1954 graduate of the University of Michigan's School of Music. While attending Michigan, he was a member of the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club. He worked with Mitch Miller and was the featured tenor on Miller's television singalong series Sing Along with Mitch for five seasons from 1959 to 1964. He was a singer on the Walt Kelly album Songs of the Pogo.
  
  wn.com/Bob_McGrath
• Bob Stutt
  Bob Stutt is a Canadian puppeteer/writer, who has starred in various children's television programs throughout his career.
  He has appeared in the following television series:
  
  
  
  wn.com/Bob_Stutt
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  Bret McKenzie
  Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie (born 29 June 1976) is a comedian, actor, musician and producer, best known for being one half of the Grammy Award winning musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. McKenzie served as music supervisor for the 2011 film The Muppets, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Man or Muppet".
  McKenzie was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He is a former member of The Black Seeds. He released an album called Prototype as Video Kid and is a member of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. McKenzie attended Clifton Terrace Model School ("model" refers to a standard school for training teachers as opposed to modeling), Wellington College and then Victoria University of Wellington where he met Jemaine Clement who was also studying film and theatre. Together, they were members of So You're a Man and they later formed Flight of the Conchords.
  As Flight of the Conchords they have toured internationally and released four CDs: Folk the World Tour in 2002,The Distant Future (which won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album) in 2007, the Grammy nominated Flight of the Conchords in 2008, and I Told You I Was Freaky in 2009. The Conchords produced a six-part improvisational comedy radio program for the BBC and have appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. After a successful appearance in 2005 on HBOs One Night Stand, the Conchords were offered their own 12-part HBO series Flight of the Conchords. Its first season ran from June to September 2007, and its second season premiered on HBO 18 January 2009.
  
  wn.com/Bret_McKenzie
• Bruce Lanoil
  Bruce Lanoil is a puppeteer for The Jim Henson Company who frequently works with puppeteer David Alan Barclay and hails from Brooklyn. He voiced The Cat in the Hat and Fox in Socks in the first season of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. He is also the new voice double for Timon from The Lion King. So far he has voiced Timon in Kingdom Hearts II and Disney's "Wild About Safety" shorts. He has also performed a voice sample for an additional character in the 2011 Spyro game, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.
  He worked as a puppeteer on movies such as Dr. Dolittle, Jack Frost, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, and Cats & Dogs.
  Outside of the Henson company, he was an on-set animation reference puppeteer and voice actor for the movies Monkeybone and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Bruce_Lanoil
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  Bunsen Honeydew
  Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a Muppet from The Muppet Show, performed by Dave Goelz. He is a bald, bespectacled, lab-coated scientist who would do periodic science segments from "Muppet Labs, where the future is being made today." The muppet has no eyes, only completely transparent, lensless glasses. This makes him appear a very absent-minded intellectual. He was named after Robert Bunsen, inventor of the Bunsen Burner. His last name is an obvious reference to the honeydew melon for which his head bears a striking resemblance.
  Honeydew's experiments usually cause great harm to his long-suffering assistant Beaker, a nearly mute Muppet with a shock of reddish hair. Honeydew worked alone in the first season of The Muppet Show, but from the second season onward, the luckless Beaker would always be present.
  Some of the inventions that were created and tested included: edible paper clips, a gorilla detector, hair-growing tonic, banana sharpener, a robot politician and an electric nose warmer. In response to the ancient quest of alchemy to turn lead into gold, Honeydew created a device that turned gold into cottage cheese.
  
  wn.com/Bunsen_Honeydew
• Carmen Osbahr
  Carmen Osbahr is an American actress who has puppeteered Rosita in the popular US children's series Sesame Street, since 1991. Osbahr has also puppeteered Kiki Flores in The Puzzle Place
  Currently, Osbahr also puppeteers Lilly in Johnny and the Sprites.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Carmen_Osbahr
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  Cat Cora
  Catherine "Cat" Cora (born January 1, 1968) is a Greek-American professional chef best known for her featured role as an "Iron Chef" on the Food Network television show Iron Chef America and as co-host of Around the World in 80 Plates on Bravo.
  Cora, a Greek American, was born in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was raised in a Greek community. Her grandfather and father were both restaurateurs. When she was 15 years old, she brought a business plan to her father and grandfather, knowing they could help her. Cora's style of cooking was influenced by Julia Child, Barbara Tropp, M.F.K. Fisher and her grandmother, Alma.
  After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology and Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi, she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Cora has appeared on Simplify Your Life. She was also a co-host of the Food Network show Kitchen Accomplished.
  In January 2005 Cora co-founded Chefs For Humanity, which describes itself as "a grassroots coalition of chefs and culinary professionals guided by a mission to quickly be able to raise funds and provide resources for important emergency and humanitarian aid, nutritional education, and hunger-related initiatives throughout the world." She has also participated in charity wine auctions held by Auction Napa Valley.
  
  wn.com/Cat_Cora
• Cheryl Blaylock
  Cheryl Blaylock is an American puppeteer, actress and comedienne on Eureeka's Castle from 1989 to 1995. Before she was on Eureeka's Castle, she was on Sesame Street, and The Muppets Take Manhattan. After Eureeka's Castle, Blaylock was on other shows like Oobi, The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth, The Reunion ^{[disambiguation needed ]}, and Blue's Room. She also was a cinematographer for Act As If.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Cheryl_Blaylock
• Cheryl Wagner
  Cheryl Wagner, the creator of The Big Comfy Couch, is a Gemini Award and Emmy award- winning Canadian children’s television writer, showrunner and producer who began her career as a performer in both theatre and on the screen. Her Halifax-based touring Merrytime Clown and Puppet Company in which Wagner worked as a clown and puppeteer from 1977 to 1980 provided a fertile ground for her later work as a producer and writer in children's entertainment.
  Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock lured Wagner back to her hometown of Toronto to work as a puppeteer for the full five years and 96 episodes of the series from 1982-87. Wagner was Jim Henson's right hand when he performed his Fraggle characters Cantus and Convincing John. For season 2 to season 5 (1984 to 1987), Wagner provided the voice for the character Ma Gorg.
  In 1984, Wagner performed as the meddling social worker Miss Finch [body suit] for the CTW Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird.
  Other television puppetry work included Annie on CBC's long-running preschool series Mr. Dressup and the role of Mrs. Pennypacker on TVO's Today's Special.
  
  wn.com/Cheryl_Wagner
• Christopher Cerf
  Christopher Cerf (born August 19, 1941) is a U.S. author, composer-lyricist, voice actor, and record and television producer. He is known for his musical contributions to Sesame Street, for co-creating and co-producing the award-winning PBS literacy education television program Between the Lions, and for his humorous articles and books.
  His father was co-founder of Random House, publisher, editor and TV panelist, Bennett Cerf. His mother was journalist and children's book publisher, Phyllis Fraser.
  Since its first season in 1970, Cerf has played a significant role in the creation and production of the Sesame Street television program, most notably as a regular contributor of music and lyrics, and as the producer of many of its music albums. In the process, he has won two Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards for songwriting and music production. Since writing and performing his first song for Sesame Street, "Count It Higher" (1972), Cerf has written or co-written over 200 songs featured on the program, including "Put Down the Duckie", "The Word Is No", "Dance Myself to Sleep", "Monster in the Mirror", and parody songs as "Born To Add", "Letter B", "Wet Paint", and "Furry Happy Monsters". Cerf also played a pivotal role in the ongoing funding of Sesame Street, founding and serving as the original editor-in-chief of Sesame Workshop's books, records, and toys division.
  
  wn.com/Christopher_Cerf
• 
  Dave Goelz
  Dave Goelz (born July 16, 1946) is a puppeteer best known for his association with The Muppets, and in particular with the Muppet character Gonzo. His other Muppet characters include Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot (the saxophonist of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem), Beauregard the janitor and Tiny (the humungous chicken in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland) . He also performed the characters of Boober Fraggle and Uncle Travelling Matt on Fraggle Rock. He also performed the puppetry for various characters, including Sir Didymus and Wiseman's Hat (both voiced by David Shaughnessy) in Labyrinth. Outside of puppeteering, he is the current voice actor for the Disney character Figment. After Jim Henson died in 1990, Goelz took over puppeteering Waldorf in 1992.
  Born in Burbank, California, Goelz had an interest in puppetry as a child, including an affinity for the children's television show Time for Beany, but after high school, attended the Los Angeles Art Center's College of Design and began work as an industrial designer. The mechanically-minded Goelz worked for such companies as John Deere, American Airlines, and Hewlett Packard. However, when Sesame Street premiered, he was fascinated by the craftsmanship, as he recalled in a Muppet Central interview:
  
  wn.com/Dave_Goelz
• David Rudman
  David Rudman (born June 1, 1964) is a puppeteer, voice actor and producer, best known as a performer of many of Sesame Street's Muppets. He originated the role of Baby Bear, and has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for his work replacing Frank Oz in the role of Cookie Monster. However, Oz still comes in to record new material with Cookie Monster occasionally.
  Rudman also took over as Richard Hunt's half of "The Two Headed Monster" after his death, along with Sonny Friendly, and also he took over for Sully to Jerry Nelson's Biff, the construction workers. He has also taken over two roles once held by Richard Hunt: Scooter and Janice of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem.
  His first production was Rankin/Bass productions such as Rudolph's Shiny New Year.
  He is currently the executive producer of Jack's Big Music Show on cable TV's Nick Jr. channel, and performs the voice of Jack, the lead character. He is also the executive producer, co-creator, and director of Bunnytown on cable TV's Playhouse Disney.
  
  wn.com/David_Rudman
• Don Austen
  British puppeteer Don Austen joined the Jim Henson Creature Shop in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth. He was a puppeteer for other blockbuster movies including Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), The Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Bear (L'ours) (1988), The Witches (1990), and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).
  Most notably he performed in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), inside both the Ghost of Christmas Present (alongside Michael Caine) and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He also managed briefly to boost numbers in Muppet Treasure Island (1996) as Pirate Crew & Cannibals.
  Austen's British TV debut was on the irreverent cult ITV puppet show Spitting Image. (1987–90)
  Austen voiced and puppeteered Sky One's DJ Kat for more than 2000 award-winning DJ Kat Shows (1989–95) and 200 breakfast shows as Earl E Bird on Channel 4's Early Bird (1991).
  Austen voiced/puppeteered feline gang leader Danny Mogg (1991) in comedy drama series The Wild Bunch. This TF1/Channel 4 co-production, recorded at AB Studios Paris, was a vehicle for French TV star Dorothee.
  
  wn.com/Don_Austen
• Drew Massey
  Drew Massey is a puppeteer for The Jim Henson Company for the Muppets and has performed in many TV shows, movies, and TV commercials. He also lends his voice for commercials and video games. His film credits include The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, The Producers, Dr. Dolittle, Cats & Dogs, Team America, and Men in Black I and II. Massey has also performed on TV in Greg the Bunny, Angel, Malcolm in the Middle, Muppets Tonight, Cousin Skeeter, Lost on Earth, and Crank Yankers; and in TV advertisements for Foster Farms (as the driver chicken), Sony (the blue guy) and Levi's (as Flat Eric). He is the star of The Sam Plenty Cavalcade of Action Show Plus Singing!, playing the titular role of Sam Plenty.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Drew_Massey
• Eren Ozker
  Eren Ozker (Turkish: Eren Özker; 25 July 1948 – 25 February 1993) was a Turkish American Puppeteer. She was one of the original performers during the first season of Jim Henson's popular television series, The Muppet Show.
  Ozker was born in Ankara, Turkey and grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA. She received a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Michigan in 1970. Right after graduating, she toured with the National Shakespeare Company, appearing in Hamlet (Ophelia) and the Merchant of Venice, (Jessica). She moved to New York, USA shortly after to perform in numerous off-Broadway productions. Reviews described her as "an Off-Broadway favorite" and as "a fire-cracker burning at both ends". In 1975 she joined the Hartman Theater Company for its first production The Government Inspector, meeting her future husband William Bogert in the process, during the original production of The Runner Stumbles.
  In 1976 Ozker went to England and joined the cast of The Muppet Show. As the only full-time female Muppeteer on the show at the time, she performed most of the female characters. These included:
  
  wn.com/Eren_Ozker
• Eric Jacobson
  Eric Jacobson (born July 25th, 1970) is a puppeteer and Muppet performer, who has assumed the role of performing Frank Oz's characters since 2001.
  Jacobson initially started playing Bert in 1997, but officially joined the cast as Bert and additional Muppets in 2000.^{[citation needed]} His role expanded in 2002 to include new Grover segments, particularly Global Grover. In 2001 he and David Rudman played Cookie Monster until 2002 when Sesame Workshop chose David as Cookie so there would be more interaction between Bert, Grover and Cookie Monster. However, Oz occasionally comes in to record new material with those characters.
  His second role came in 2001 with The Book of Pooh, where he worked on Piglet and Kanga. That year, he also began playing Miss Piggy, debuting at the "Muppetfest" convention. Subsequently, in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002), he performed the roles of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Animal. In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005), as well as Sam the Eagle.
  Jacobson is currently an active puppeteer for many Muppet productions, such as Disney's The Muppets Studio and Sesame Workshop's Sesame Street.
  
  wn.com/Eric_Jacobson
• Fran Brill
  Frances Joan "Fran" Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on Sesame Street and playing Lily Marvin in the Frank Oz film, What About Bob?.
  Brill was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Linette and Joseph M. Brill. Her father was a physician. She is a graduate of Boston University.
  She began her career in theater, making her Broadway debut in the 1969 play Red, White and Maddox. Her other theatrical roles include leads at the Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons and many regional theaters including the Long Wharf, Yale Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, the Mark Taper Forum and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has been nominated twice for a Drama Desk Award, for What Every Woman Knows (1976) and for Knuckle (1981), respectively.
  From 1974-1975, Brill played Fran Bachman on NBC's daytime drama How to Survive a Marriage. Her character struggled with sudden widowhood, and Brill received over a thousand condolence letters. Brill was also featured in episodes of The Guiding Light, All My Children, The Edge of Night, Hyde in Hollywood, Lip Service and Kate and Allie. She has also guest-starred on nighttime dramas such as Third Watch, Against the Law, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU.
  
  wn.com/Fran_Brill
• Frank Meschkuleit
  Frank Meschkuleit is a voice actor who plays the voice of Toopy on the television series Toopy and Binoo. He has also performed as a voice actor and puppeteer on other shows, such as Don't Eat the Neighbours and Dragon. He was also the suit performer for Junior Gorg for the fifth and final season of Fraggle Rock.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Frank_Meschkuleit
• Frank Oz
  Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; b. May 25, 1944) is an American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, as well as Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street. His work as a film director includes 1986's Little Shop of Horrors remake and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He is also the operator and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars film series.
  Oz was born in Hereford, England, the son of Frances (née Ghevaert) and Isidore Oznowicz, both of whom were puppeteers. His parents moved to England after fighting the Nazis with the Dutch Brigades. Oz's Dutch/Polish father was Jewish and his Flemish mother was a lapsed Roman Catholic. Oz moved to Oakland, California, United States, with his parents when he was five years old. He attended Oakland Technical High School and Oakland City College. He worked for a time with the Vagabond Puppets, a production of the Oakland Recreation Department, where Lettie Connell was his mentor.
  
  wn.com/Frank_Oz
• Gary Halvorson
  Gary Halvorson is an American director of television shows, series and film.
  He was trained as a pianist at Juilliard, but is primarily noted as the director of situation comedies such as Friends (of which he directed 56 episodes) and The Drew Carey Show. He also made his film directorial debut The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999), a children's film. He began his career by directing a music show for Leonard Bernstein.
  For the New York Metropolitan Opera, he directed high-definition theater simulcasts of The Magic Flute (30 Dec 2006), I Puritani (6 Jan 2007), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (24 Mar 2007), Il Tabarro (28 Apr 2007), Roméo et Juliette (15 Dec 2007), Macbeth (11 Jan 2008), Peter Grimes (15 Mar 2008), La Bohème (5 Apr 2008), La fille du régiment (26 Avr 2008), the 2008-09 opening night gala starring Renée Fleming (22 Sep 2008), Doctor Atomic (8 Nov 2008), Thaïs (20 Dec 2008), Lucia di Lammermoor (7 Feb 2009), Madama Butterfly (7 Mar 2009), La Cenerentola (9 May 2009), Tosca (10 Oct 2009), Aida (23 Oct 2008), Turandot (7 Nov 2009), Les Contes d'Hoffmann (19 Dec 2009), Carmen (16 Jan 2010), Armida (1 May 2010), Das Rheingold (9 Oct 2010), Don Pasquale (13 Nov 2010) and Don Carlo (11 Dec 2010).
  
  wn.com/Gary_Halvorson
• James Bobin
  James Bobin is a British film director, writer, and producer. He has worked as a director and writer on The 11 O'Clock Show and Da Ali G Show, and helped create the characters of Ali G, Borat, and Bruno. In 2003 and 2004, he directed and co-wrote all of the 12 episodes of Ali G in da USAiii for HBO.
  With Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, he co-created Flight of the Conchords, also for HBO. Bobin had previously seen Clement and McKenzie perform and signed on to co-create the show.
  He has also directed campaigns for Diet Coke and Lloyds TSB.
  In 2011, he directed The Muppets, a musical-comedy film written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, which became a critical and commercial hit.
  Bobin was brought up in Titchfield, near Fareham, Hampshire, and educated at Titchfield Primary School and The Portsmouth Grammar School.
  In 1995, he was the star of the early reality TV show, MODERN TIMES: FLATMATES. He was a member of a household searching for a flatmate, screened on UK's BBC2.
  His wife Francesca Beauman gave birth in late July 2007 to baby Madelaine. His father David Bobin is employed by Sky Sports and was formerly with Southern Television and Meridian TV South.
  
  wn.com/James_Bobin
• James Frawley
  James Frawley (born 1937) is an American director and actor. Frawley was born in Houston, Texas. He has worked on/with Smallville, Ghost Whisperer, Judging Amy and The Monkees, as well as many other programs. He is a nephew of actor William Frawley.
  
  wn.com/James_Frawley
• Jane Henson
  Jane Ann Henson (born June 16, 1934) is an American puppeteer and the widow of puppeteer Jim Henson.
  Born Jane Ann Nebel and raised in New York, she met Henson while both were freshmen at the University of Maryland, College Park. They worked together on the live fifties television show Sam and Friends, where Jane collaborated with Jim in performing Muppets and devising several of the show's technical innovations, including the use of television monitors to watch their performances in real time. When, in the late fifties, Jim took a year off from Sam and Friends to travel in Europe, Jane ran the show, with the help of a UMD classmate.
  "Among the first of his assignments at WRC was Afternoon, a magazine show aimed at housewives. This marked his first collaboration with Jane Nebel - the woman who later became his wife"
  Though they were romantically uninvolved for the first few years of Sam and Friends, Jim and Jane eventually began dating and were married in 1959.
  They would however, not start dating until Jim returned from Europe where he traveled for several months, to be inspired by European puppeteers who look on their work as an art form. Upon Henson's return to the United States, he and Jane began dating. They were married in 1959 and had five children.
  
  wn.com/Jane_Henson
• 
  Jason Segel
  Jason Jordan Segel (born January 18, 1980) is an American television and film actor, screenwriter, composer, puppeteer, musician, and singer, known for his work with producer Judd Apatow on the cult classic, short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, the films Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, I Love You, Man, Gulliver's Travels, Bad Teacher, Despicable Me, and The Muppets, and also for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother.
  Segel was born in Los Angeles, the son of Jillian (née Jordan), a homemaker, and Alvin G. Segel, a lawyer, and grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. His father is Jewish and his mother is Christian. He has stated that he was raised Jewish, as well as "a little bit of everything": he went to Hebrew school and had a Bar Mitzvah, and also attended St. Matthew's Parish School, a private Episcopal school. He has an older half-brother, Adam, and a younger sister, Alison. He has stated that he and Adam were not close while growing up.
  
  wn.com/Jason_Segel
• 
  Jennifer Barnhart
  Jennifer Barnhart (born in Hamden, Connecticut) is an American puppeteer, actress and voice-over talent, with a portfolio of television and theatre performances. She is one of the very rarely seen left-handed puppeteers.
  Barnhart graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in acting with a concentration in puppetry.
  Barnhart made her Broadway debut in 2003 and is a featured performer in the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q, in which she also appeared Off-Broadway and also continues to play the roles that she originated on the said musical. She also stars as Cleo on PBS's literacy education series, Between the Lions, and performed the puppetry for Kanga and Owl on Disney Channel's The Book of Pooh. Barnhart is a Sesame Street Muppet performer who took over the roles of Mama Bear in 2001 and Gladys the Cow in 2002.
  Barnhart also worked as a puppeteer in Johnny and the Sprites, a Disney Channel children's show created by her Avenue Q co-star John Tartaglia.
  She appeared on screen as a puppeteer on Law & Order: SVU in May 2006, episode "Web". In regional theatre, she played the angel in Angels in America (Gallery Players), and Olivia in Twelfth Night and Cassie in Rumors (Connecticut Repertory Theatre). In 2011 she appeared as the police officer Randy Osteen in Tracy Letts's new play "Superior Donuts" at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. In 2010, she portrayed a Chicago Police Department Detective, Lorna Diamond, in the Law & Order: SVU episode, "Behave".
  
  wn.com/Jennifer_Barnhart
• Jerry Juhl
  Jerome Ravn "Jerry" Juhl (July 27, 1938 – September 26, 2005) was an American television and movie writer, best known for his work with Jim Henson's "Muppets".
  Juhl was born in St. Paul, Minnesota; his family moved to Menlo Park, California, when he was 14. He received a bachelor's degree in theater arts from San Jose State University in 1961 and worked on children's shows for local television stations while in college. He met Frank Oz when they both worked for the Oakland Recreation Department's Vagabond Puppet Theater as teenagers. The two later met Henson at a puppeteer gathering in California.
  Juhl was recruited by Henson as a puppeteer and writer on Sam and Friends. He focused increasingly on writing as other puppeteers, such as Frank Oz, joined the Henson stable.
  Juhl was the head writer on The Muppet Show. He also wrote for the television shows Fraggle Rock, and The Jim Henson Hour. He was involved in some capacity with all of the Muppet films from the first "Muppet Movie" in 1979 to "Muppets From Space" in 1999. According to Lisa Henson, "So much of the humour, irreverence, caring and heart began with Jerry. He was, in many ways, the real voice of the Muppets."
  
  wn.com/Jerry_Juhl
• Jerry Nelson
  Jerry Nelson (born July 10, 1934) is an American Muppet puppeteer, known for his wide range of characters, singing abilities, and his frequent partnership with Richard Hunt.
  Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (he was once rumored to be born in Muskogee, Oklahoma.^{[citation needed]}) and raised in Washington, D.C. He began puppeteering for Bil Baird. His first job with the Muppets was The Jimmy Dean Show in 1965. Frank Oz was going to take some time off from puppeteering, so Nelson was hired to perform Rowlf the Dog's right hand in his stead.
  After The Jimmy Dean Show closed, Nelson continued to perform Rowlf's right hand with the Dean show on its live tour. At the conclusion of the tour, Frank Oz rejoined the company. Jerry continued working with The Muppets, performing in variety shows and commercials until in 1966. The amount of work was somewhat reduced, so Jim Henson had to release Nelson. Following this, Nelson puppeteered in a number of projects in the late 1960s, but none of these would make him as famous as his years to come.
  
  wn.com/Jerry_Nelson
• 
  Jim Henson
  James Maury "Jim" Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for projects like Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. He was also an Oscar-nominated film director, Emmy Award-winning television producer, and the founder of The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He died on May 16, 1990 of organ failure resulting from a Group A streptococcal infection caused by Streptococcus pyogenes.
  Henson, who was born in Greenville, Mississippi and educated at University of Maryland, College Park, is one of the most widely known puppeteers ever. He created Sam and Friends as a freshman in College Park. After suffering struggles with programs that he created, he eventually was selected to participate in Sesame Street. During this time, he also contributed to Saturday Night Live. The success of Sesame Street spawned The Muppet Show, which featured Muppets created by Henson. He also co-created with Michael Jacobs the television show Dinosaurs during his final years. On June 16, 2011, he posthumously received the Disney Legends Award.
  
  wn.com/Jim_Henson
• Joan Ganz Cooney
  Joan Ganz Cooney (born November 30, 1929) is an American television producer. She is one of the founders of the Children's Television Workshop (now known as Sesame Workshop), the organization famous for the creation of the children's television show Sesame Street. Cooney received her B.A. degree in education from the University of Arizona in 1951.
  Cooney was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Television Hall of Fame.
  She has been married to Peter G. Peterson, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, since April 1980. Unable to have children of her own, she became a stepmother to Peterson's five children. She lives in New York City.
  Cooney was born Joan Ganz in Phoenix, Arizona, and adopted the name Joan Redden Ganz, using her mother's maiden name. Cooney's mother was Irish-Catholic, and born in Jackson, Michigan. After her maternal grandfather died, her mother's family came west when she was 18 or 19. Her father was Jewish and was born in Phoenix, but his mother went to California to get better medical care when giving birth to him. Her Jewish German paternal grandfather was Emil Ganz, who fought in Georgia during the American Civil War, on the Confederate side. Ganz was elected mayor of Phoenix three times.
  
  wn.com/Joan_Ganz_Cooney
• Joe Raposo
  Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was a Portuguese-American composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green" and "C is for Cookie". He also wrote music for television shows such as The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and the sitcoms Three's Company and The Ropers, including their theme songs. In addition to these works, Raposo also composed extensively for the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises such as Halloween Is Grinch Night, Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat.
  Raposo was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, the only child of Portuguese immigrant parents Joseph Soares Raposo and Maria da Ascenção Vitorino Raposo. He was a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1958, where he was well known for writing the scores for several Hasty Pudding shows.
  Raposo worked in musical theater both before and after his work for The Children's Television Workshop and Sesame Street; musical theater was where he first encountered future collaborator Jim Henson. According to Jonathan Schwartz, during the mid-1960s, before Sesame Street, Raposo performed side music in piano bars in Boston to make ends meet, and also served as pianist and music director for a jazz trio working at Boston's WNAC-TV. Upon hearing Raposo's musical skill, Schwartz claims in his autobiography he urged Raposo to give up piano bar playing in Boston and "take his ass to New York". Raposo's decision to take Schwartz's suggestion and move to New York in 1965 eventually led him to his fated meeting with Henson, to Sesame Street, and towards international fame.
  
  wn.com/Joe_Raposo
• John Eccleston
  John Eccleston is a puppeteer, writer and presenter known for his work as lead puppeteer of Rygel in Farscape, Groove in The Hoobs and his many roles on British children's television alongside Don Austen. He was also behind the ITV character Gilbert the Alien, who was voiced by Phil Cornwell, He also performed Worth the Dog in the Woolworths adverts (again opposite Don Austen as Wooly The Sheep), Mervin J Minky on MTV's FURtv and Rattus Rattus on the CBBC Horrible Histories series.
  His 'in vision' television career started as one of the original presenters of the UK version of the Mickey Mouse Club, Disney Club, the success of which led to him presenting Run the Risk, The Big Dish, children's magazine show Brill, and Get The Picture for Nickelodeon. It took seven years for him to realise he didn't like being pointed at in the street and he has remained off screen ever since. He worked alongside Don Austen on the Saturday morning children's show What's Up Doc? He and Don provided the voices and operated the puppet wolves Bro & Bro. Their writing skill on this show garnered a spin-off ITV show called Wolf It! What's Up Doc?. John was approached to provide new characters for the BBC flagship series LIVE & KICKING once again teaming up with Don Austen and Darryl Worbey to create THE LEPRECHAUNS - Mr Sage and Mr Onion. The characters appeared across six years - outliving three sets of presenters. John, Don and Darryl teamed up yet again to create Scratch and Sniff (with John playing Sniff) on Ministry of Mayhem (later reworked as Holly and Stephen's Saturday Showdown) and the Hyenas recorded 15 episodes of the gameshow Scratch 'n' Sniff's Den Of Doom for Granada Kids. John appeared in the award winning short film The Box, directed by Michael J. Bassett and also starring Paul Hendy, Richard Orford and Laurence Akers. He also is the puppetor for Rattus on the CBBC program, Horrible Histories.
  
  wn.com/John_Eccleston
• John Lovelady
  John Lovelady is a right-handed puppeteer who worked with the Muppets, including on Sesame Street. He stopped working with the Muppets when The Muppet Show Season 1 ended but later joined the syndicated children's series The Great Space Coaster and also performed in a serialisation of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.
  
  
  
  wn.com/John_Lovelady
• John Tartaglia
  John Nicholas Tartaglia (born February 16, 1978) is an American singer, actor, dancer, and puppeteer.
  Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade, New Jersey, U.S.. He joined Sesame Street's puppetry team at the age of 16 part-time, performing as a right hand and many minor characters, including Phoebe and being the understudy for Kevin Clash's Elmo. He performed Ernie for the second season of Play with Me Sesame and Oscar the Grouch for Sesame Street 4D. He became a full time part of Sesame Street at the age of 16.
  Tartaglia created and puppeteered the roles of Princeton (the recent college grad) and Rod (the closeted Republican investment banker) in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q, which opened July 31, 2003. For the roles, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2004. He left the cast on January 30, 2005.
  Tartaglia appeared in 2004 at the 14th annual Broadway Bares, which was a great success raising $525,000 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
  
  wn.com/John_Tartaglia
• 
  Jon Stewart
  Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.
  Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called You Wrote It, You Watch It. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, resulting in his sixteen Emmy Awards.
  Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race released in 2010.
  
  wn.com/Jon_Stewart
• Julianne Buescher
  Julianne Buescher (Born February 4, 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio) (last name pronounced Bush-er) is an actress who performs in film, television, and on stage and radio. As a voice artist, she is known for many roles including Anko Mitarashi on Naruto. Buescher is also a skilled puppeteer and has worked for both Sesame Street and The Muppets. She is also a survivor of breast cancer. Buescher also recently received an offer to join the cast of Avenue Q, she can also be heard as the announcer for E!'s The Soup, Gone Bad and Love Chain. Buescher was also a member of The Second City.
  
  wn.com/Julianne_Buescher
• Karen Prell
  Karen Prell (born in Florida) is best known as the performer of Red Fraggle in Fraggle Rock. She also performed some characters in other Jim Henson films, and has enjoyed a significant second career as a computer animator for such studios as Pixar and DNA. In Sesame Street, she performed Deena Monster, which was a background character in the classic Sesame Street. Her website includes notes about working with Jim Henson and pictures of her custom puppets.
  Prell currently^[when?] works as an animator with Valve Corporation.
  
  wn.com/Karen_Prell
• Kathryn Mullen
  Kathryn "Kathy" Mullen is an actress, voice actress, and puppeteer most closely associated with Jim Henson projects. She began performing on The Muppet Show in its third season, primarily as Gaffer the Backstage Cat. She also voice directed Dog City for Nelvana, worked as a designer for The Muppet Movie, a performing assistant for Yoda on The Empire Strikes Back, and was one of the creators of Between the Lions. While reprising this character for several Muppet movies, she also created the character of Mokey - a gentle, New Age style Fraggle - on Henson's Fraggle Rock. She performed the Gelfling Kira in the movie The Dark Crystal, Allegra on "Allegra's Window", and Leona the Lion on "Between the Lions".
  Kathy Mullen, with her husband, former Muppet designer Michael K. Frith, has joined forces with British charity "No Strings" to create a film for children in Afghanistan, warning of the dangers of land mines. In the film, "The Story of the Little Carpet Boy," one puppet loses several limbs before he learns to avoid land mines completely. Kathy and Michael picked up the idea from Johnie McGlade, an emergency aid worker who used a scruffy rabbit puppet to bring smiles to the faces of people who had lived through earthquakes, hunger, or genocide.
  
  wn.com/Kathryn_Mullen
• Ken Kwapis
  Kenneth William “Ken” Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director and screenwriter. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and He's Just Not That into You.
  Kwapis was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and grew up in neighboring Belleville. He is of Polish descent and was raised Catholic, attending the Jesuit preparatory academy St. Louis University High School. He earned a Bachelor's degree at Northwestern University's School of Speech, after which he traveled west to enroll in the M.F.A. program at the USC School of Cinema-Television. Kwapis’ twenty-four minute thesis film, For Heaven's Sake, won the Student Academy Award in 1982. The film is a contemporary adaptation of Mozart's one-act opera Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario).
  Kwapis is married to Marisa Silver, with whom he has two sons.
  In 1983, Kwapis directed Revenge of the Nerd for CBS' Afternoon Playhouse, followed by Summer Switch for ABC's Afterschool Special. Starring Robert Klein, Summer Switch is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, the sequel to a young adult fantasy, Freaky Friday. For the Scholastic Book Company, Kwapis directed The Beniker Gang, starring Andrew McCarthy.
  
  wn.com/Ken_Kwapis
• Kenneth Parcell
  Kenneth Ellen Parcell is a fictional character on the NBC comedy television series, 30 Rock, portrayed by Jack McBrayer. Originally a supporting character in the first two episodes of the series, the show's producers see him as an example of a breakout character.
  Kenneth Parcell is a perpetually-cheerful NBC page, who hails from Stone Mountain, Georgia, where his father was a pig farmer. An awkward yet polite rube, he always projects an extremely optimistic demeanor, and is excited and happy to do his menial job, which is due to his love for television and his devotion to the NBC network. In "Believe in the Stars", he states that he only loves two things: "everybody and television". In "The Ones", as he is passing out from a strawberry allergy, Kenneth exclaims that his real name is Dick Whitman (a reference to the AMC drama, Mad Men). In "Standards and Practices", he tells Liz that his first name stands for "Andromakennethamblesorten". In "Reunion", a flashback shows that Kenneth attended an all African-American high school. At Kentucky Mountain Bible College, Kenneth majored in Television Studies and minored in Bible Sexuality; In "Kidney Now!", he states that his favorite subject was science, "especially the Old Testament". In "Blind Date", Jack Donaghy states that Kenneth's Myers–Briggs Type Indicator "shows a rare combination of extroverted, intuitive, and aggressive" (which is the same as his own).
  
  wn.com/Kenneth_Parcell
• Kermit Love
  Kermit Ernest Hollingshead Love (August 7, 1916 – June 21, 2008) was an American puppeteer, costume designer, and actor in children's television and on Broadway. He was best known as a designer and builder with the Muppets, in particular those on Sesame Street.
  Love was born in Spring Lake, New Jersey and was raised by his grandmother and great-grandmother following the death of his mother when he was three years old.
  Love began his theatrical career at a young age, working as a marionette maker and costume designer for Broadway and other stage productions as early as the 1930s, even appearing on stage in a bit part as a student for the 1937 play Naught Naught 00.
  Love worked with many of the great figures of mid-century Broadway and American ballet. He was the costumer for the Agnes de Mille ballet Rodeo (1942), for the Kurt Weill musical One Touch of Venus (1943), and for Merce Cunningham's The Wind Remains (1943) and Jerome Robbins's ballet Fancy Free (1944). For George Balanchine he designed, amongst other items, a twenty-eight foot marionette giant for Don Quixote (1965).
  
  wn.com/Kermit_Love
• 
  Kevin Clash
  Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer and voice actor whose characters include Elmo, Baby Sinclair, Clifford, Splinter and Hoots the Owl. He currently serves as Sesame Street Muppet Captain and co-executive producer.
  In the fall of 2006, Clash released an autobiography titled My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud. He is the subject of the 2011 documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey.
  Kevin Clash was born on September 17, 1960 in Baltimore, Maryland. Clash's interest in animation in general, began with watching Disney on television. Clash had a strong interest in being a puppeteer since early age. His parents were very supportive of his ideas. One day Kevin saw his father's nice church coat and decided to use it to make a puppet. When his father got home Kevin hid. His father confronted him and asked what was the puppet's name, then told him to ask permission next time. In his neighborhood growing up, Clash would put on puppet shows for the children that his mother babysat.
  
  wn.com/Kevin_Clash
• Lisa Henson
  Lisa Henson (born May 9, 1960) is a television and movie producer who has been involved in television shows such as Sid the Science Kid and blockbuster movies Lethal Weapon and Batman. She is the daughter of puppeteers Jane and Jim Henson, and the sister of Brian Henson.
  She is the CEO of The Jim Henson Company.
  Besides her direct television and movie work, she has been president of production for Columbia Pictures, and an executive for Warner Brothers. She holds a degree from Harvard University, where she has also served on the Board of Overseers.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Lisa_Henson
• Lloyd Morrisett
  Lloyd Newton Morrisett, Jr. (born November 2, 1929, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American experimental psychologist with a career in education, communications, and philanthropy. He is one of the founders of the Children's Television Workshop (now known as Sesame Workshop), the organization famous for the creation of the children's television shows Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and many others.
  He is married to Mary Pierre Morrisett. They have two children — Sarah Elizabeth Otley and Julie Margaret Morrisett.
  He is the son of Jessie Watson and Lloyd Newton Morrisett, Sr. The family lived in Oklahoma City in the 1920s before moving to New York City in 1933 to escape the hardships brought about by the Dust Bowl and the Depression. After the Great Depression, the family moved to California, where Morrisett met Julian Ganz, a middle school classmate who would later introduce him to Joan Ganz Cooney, the co-founder of Children's Television Workshop.
  Morrisett assumed he was headed for a life of academia like his father, a professor at UCLA. “I was brought up to believe that being a professor was the best job in the world,” he said. Today, he credits his father with inspiring his lifelong interest in education.
  
  wn.com/Lloyd_Morrisett
• Loretta Long
  Loretta Long (born June 3, 1940) is an American actress best known for playing Susan Robinson on Sesame Street, having starred on the show since its debut in 1969.
  Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, she earned her Ph.D. in Urban Education in 1973 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, while she was starring on Sesame Street. She has acted in musicals such as Guys and Dolls and appeared on the Flip Wilson Show with other Sesame Street cast members during its first season.
  On Sesame Street, Long's character, Susan, along with Bob (Bob McGrath) and Big Bird/Oscar the Grouch (Caroll Spinney), is one of only three remaining cast members who were on the first show and have been played by the same actors since the show began. She has performed a couple of puppet voices on the show, including Suzetta and Roosevelt Franklin's mother.
  Long, in addition to starring on Sesame Street, is a consultant and public speaker on issues of multiculturalism and education.
  On February 10, 2010, Long was struck by a car as she crossed Route 130 in East Windsor, New Jersey, suffering head wounds as a result. She was listed in fair condition following the accident.
  
  wn.com/Loretta_Long
• Louise Gold
  Louise Gold (born 1956) is an English singer, actress and puppeteer whose career has spanned almost four decades.
  From 1977, Gold was a puppeteer and voice actress for The Muppet Show and Sesame Street, and she has performed voice and puppet work on various other Muppet films and specials. She was a founder and lead puppeteer for the satirical television show Spitting Image from 1984 to 1986. She is also known as an actress in musical theatre, having starred in numerous shows on the West End since 1982, playing such roles as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Tanya in Mamma Mia!, Phyllis in Follies, Baroness Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins, and Mrs Sowerberry and Mrs Bedwin in Oliver!.
  Gold was born in London, England, to parents who were active with Unity Theatre in London. Her father was John Gold (1920–1998), a journalist, and her mother was an actress, Una Brandon-Jones (1916–2010). Her brother, Max, is also an actor. Gold trained at The Arts Educational Schools from age 11.
  
  wn.com/Louise_Gold
• Martin P. Robinson
  Martin P. Robinson (born March 9, 1954) is a puppeteer for the Jim Henson Company. He originally built, designed, and performed the puppets for Little Shop of Horrors. He is perhaps best known for his work on Sesame Street. He has performed the characters of Telly Monster, Slimey the Worm, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Tony The Turtle on the show for more than 20 years. He also performed the character Riff on Allegra's Window, and was an animatronic puppeteer for Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is the puppeteer responsible for training the puppeteers on Sesame Tree.
  He was born on March 9, 1954 in Dearborn, Michigan. He graduated from Brookfield East High School, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, suburb of Milwaukee.
  He was married to Annie Evans on August 9, 2008 on the set of Sesame Street, in the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, NY. They have twin daughters, Lyra and Ripley, born February 12, 2009. Robinson also has four grown children from a previous marriage.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Martin_P._Robinson
• Michelan Sisti
  Michelan Sisti (born May 27, 1949) is an actor and musician who played Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Before becoming a Turtle, he had an eighteen year theatrical career including five Broadway shows. Since TMNT, Micha moved from New York City to Los Angeles and has continued to work with Jim Henson Company, Walt Disney Studios, and scores of other movie and television productions, as an actor, director and puppeteer.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Michelan_Sisti
• Nicholas Stoller
  Nicholas Stoller (born 19 March 1976) is an English–American screenwriter and director. He is known mainly for directing the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and its 2010 spin-off/sequel, Get Him to the Greek.
  Stoller was born in London, England, and raised in Miami, Florida, United States with his brother Matt Stoller. His mother, Phyllis, is a travel tour operator, and his father, Eric C. Stoller, is a bank executive. Stoller attended high school at St. Paul's, a New Hampshire boarding school. He went on to attend Harvard College and wrote for the comedy publication The Harvard Lampoon, and played for the improv comedy troupe The Immediate Gratification Players while an undergraduate.
  From 2000 to 2001, Stoller wrote for Judd Apatow's short-lived Fox television series Undeclared and later co-wrote, again with Apatow, the 2005 comedy Fun with Dick and Jane. Stoller’s directorial debut, the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is a romantic comedy starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Jonah Hill, Kristen Bell, Bill Hader and Russell Brand. The film was produced by Apatow Productions and was released by Universal on 18 April 2008.
  
  wn.com/Nicholas_Stoller
• Nikki Tilroe
  Nikki Tilroe (December 26, 1941 – September 1, 2005) was an Emmy Award-winning American puppeteer. She is best known for her work as the "Mime Lady" on the children's television series Today's Special. She also operated Muppets on the TV show Fraggle Rock and played "Beaver" on Cucumber.
  Tilroe worked out of Toronto during the 1970s and 1980s, and served as director for Frog Print Theater. In 1975 Tilroe was awarded a "Citation of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry" by Jim Henson. In 1993 she received an Emmy Award as the head puppeteer on the production of The Land of I.
  Tilroe appeared on the children's television show Charlie Horse Music Pizza, and was one of three puppeteers to manipulate the "Snuggle Bear", a puppet designed by Kermit Love. Tilroe also taught puppetry courses through several venues, including the University of Hawaii, the Toronto Teacher's College, at festivals and conferences, and through the O'Neill Puppetry Conference. She also wrote about puppetry, including the 1996 booklet, Movement in puppetry performance.
  
  wn.com/Nikki_Tilroe
• Noel MacNeal
  Noel MacNeal (born September 15, 1961 in Harlem, New York City) is a puppeteer, writer, and director of children's television, best known as the voice and puppeteer of Bear in Bear in the Big Blue House and Breakfast with Bear. He first came to public attention in the early 1980s.
  On November 6, 1999, he married author Susan Elia at Manhattan's Union Theological Seminary. Their son, Matthew, was born in 2005.
  Noel portrays the environmentally friendly character ZoZo^{[citation needed]} a mascot for safer streets, green transportation and useful public spaces. This Jim Henson designed and created walk around puppet is used by Livable Streets Education to talk about these issues with young children and families.
  Among his characters are Bear, Mrs. (Mommy) Snuffleupagus and various Snuffleupagus relatives on Sesame Street. He has also been Magellan, a baby dragon, on the ACE Award winning series Eureeka's Castle on Nick Jr, Leon MacNeal in The Puzzle Place; Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and Madame Chairbird in the film Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird.
  
  wn.com/Noel_MacNeal
• Pam Arciero
  Pam Arciero (born May 8, 1954 in Honolulu, Hawaii), is puppeteer and voice-over artist who portrays Oscar the Grouch's girlfriend, Grundgetta, on Sesame Street.
  Arciero earned her Master's in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut.
  Arciero took over the role of Grundgetta for Sesame Street from Brian Muehl, performing her in The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson and Sesame Street: A Is for Asthma.
  She has performed characters for Allegra's Window, Between the Lions, Eureeka's Castle and The Great Space Coaster.
  She performed in Little Shop of Horrors at the Orpheum Theater and served as director for several live shows at Sesame Place and El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles.
  Arciero has served as Artistic Director for the O'Neill puppetry conference since 2002 and continues to participate in puppetry workshops and other events across the country.
  She appears as herself in the documentaries Henson's Place and The World of Jim Henson.
  
  wn.com/Pam_Arciero
• Peter Friedman
  Peter Friedman (born April 24, 1949) is an American stage, film and television actor.
  Born in New York City, Friedman graduated from Hofstra University before making his Broadway debut in The Great God Brown in 1972. Additional theatre credits include The Visit (1973), Piaf and A Soldier's Play (both 1981), The Heidi Chronicles (1989), Ragtime (1998), and Twelve Angry Men (2004). He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.
  On television, Friedman starred as patriarch George Silver in Brooklyn Bridge, has made numerous guest appearances in such series as Miami Vice, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Without a Trace, Ghost Whisperer, and Damages, and had a featured role in Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder. Early in his career he performed in several episodes of The Muppet Show in its first and third seasons, and spent a brief time on Sesame Street.
  
  wn.com/Peter_Friedman
• 
  Peter Jackson
  Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, who is well known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001 to 2003), adapted from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.
  He won international attention early in his career with his "splatstick" horror comedies beginning with Bad Taste (1987) before coming to mainstream prominence with Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which he shared an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination with his wife, Fran Walsh. Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards in his career, including the award for Best Director in 2003; he also won the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Saturn Award for Best Direction the same year.
  His films also include Meet the Feebles (1989), Braindead (1992), Forgotten Silver (1995), The Frighteners (1996), King Kong (2005),The Lovely Bones (2009), and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings prequels The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (2013). He is also the producer of District 9 (2009) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011).
  
  wn.com/Peter_Jackson
• Peter Linz
  Peter Linz (b. June 28, 1967) is an American puppeteer.
  He has voiced many characters on children's television shows, including Blue's Clues, Sesame Street,The Puzzle Place, and Bear in the Big Blue House. Perhaps some of his best known voice roles are Snook in It's a Big Big World and Theo Lion in Between the Lions. He is the voice and puppeteer for the character Walter in the 2011 feature film The Muppets.
  Linz also performed in the Broadway musical Avenue Q.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Peter_Linz
• Roger Langridge
  Roger Langridge (born 14 February 1967) is a New Zealand-born comics writer/artist/letterer, currently living in Britain.
  Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the Judge Dredd Megazine series The Straitjacket Fits (written by David Bishop), a surreal, hallucinatory, convention-bending strip set in an insane asylum with a cast of characters who realised they were in a comic strip and burst from the edge of the frame.
  His cartoon style proved perfect for the series and he continued to work for the Megazine, in addition to a series of comedy books dedicated to his Buster Keaton-inspired character Fred the Clown, which he wrote and drew as a webcomic before self-publishing the material as small press titles. These were collected as a single volume by Fantagraphics Books in 2004. His work on Fred the Clown was nominated for two Eisner Awards, a Harvey Award, a Reuben Award and an Ignatz Award. Langridge also does illustration work.
  He has also provided artwork for Shaenon Garrity's Smithson webcomic.
  
  wn.com/Roger_Langridge
• Ron Mueck
  Ronald "Ron" Mueck (English pronunciation: /mjuːɛk/ or /muːɪk/; born 1958, Melbourne) is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor working in the United Kingdom.
  Ron Mueck began his career working on the Australian children's television program Shirl's Neighbourhood. He was the creative director and made, voiced and operated the puppets Greenfinger the Garden Gnome, Ol' Possum, Stanley the snake and Claude the Crow amongst many others. The show was made for Channel 7 Melbourne between 1979 and 1984, broadcast nationally and starred the ex-lead singer of Skyhooks, Graeme "Shirley" Strachan.
  Mueck's early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for children's television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo, and the Jim Henson series The Storyteller.
  Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. Although highly detailed, these props were usually designed to be photographed from one specific angle hiding the mess of construction seen from the other side. Mueck increasingly wanted to produce realistic sculptures which looked perfect from all angles.
  
  wn.com/Ron_Mueck
• 
  Ryan Seacrest
  Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American radio personality, television host and producer. He is known internationally as host of the top-rated primetime talent showcase American Idol. He has been nominated for an Emmy award in the "Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program" category for his work on American Idol. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for co-hosting the 2005 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. As a television producer, Seacrest has won an Emmy for the ABC show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. On radio, Seacrest is host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, his market-topping #1 nationally syndicated LA morning drive-time radio show for Clear Channel’s 102.7 KIIS-FM. , as well as a nationally-syndicated Top 40 radio show. Seacrest hosted the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 16, 2007. Seacrest has extensive deals with brand heavyweights Proctor & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, and has a strategic marketing and technology alliance with Eventful, Inc.
  
  wn.com/Ryan_Seacrest
• Sandra Shamas
  Sandra Shamas (born 1957 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian comedic actress and writer.
  The oldest of three children born to Lebanese immigrants, Shamas left home at age 17 and moved to Toronto, where she held a variety of jobs before a workshop at The Second City inspired her to pursue a career in performing arts. She acted with Second City and Theatresports, and worked as a puppeteer on the children's series Fraggle Rock before deciding to strike out on her own.
  In 1987, she applied to the Edmonton Fringe Festival to perform her first show, My Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Laundry. The show, a mixture of personal stories drawn from her own life and observational humour about dating and relationships, was accepted and became the smash hit of the festival, and soon Shamas was on tour performing the show across the country.
  In 1989, Shamas began performing the sequel, My Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Laundry II: The Cycle Continues. A third show, Wedding Bell Hell, dealing with wedding rituals such as the bridal shower and selection of the wedding rings and dress, made its debut in 1991.
  
  wn.com/Sandra_Shamas
• 
  Selena Gomez
  Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place. She subsequently ventured into feature films and has starred in the television movies Another Cinderella Story, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, and Princess Protection Program. She made her starring theatrical film debut in Ramona and Beezus.
  Her career has expanded into the music industry; Gomez is the lead singer and founder of the pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which has released three RIAA Gold certified studio albums, Kiss & Tell, A Year Without Rain, and When the Sun Goes Down, spawned three RIAA Platinum certified singles, "Naturally", "Who Says" and "Love You Like a Love Song" and charted four No. 1 Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs. Gomez has also contributed to the soundtracks of Tinker Bell, Another Cinderella Story, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Shake It Up after signing a record deal with Hollywood Records.
  
  wn.com/Selena_Gomez
• Statler and Waldorf
  Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters. They are two disagreeable old men who first appeared in the television series The Muppet Show heckling the rest of the cast from their balcony seats. They appeared in every episode of the show, except for one. (In one episode, Waldorf appeared alone at the beginning, explaining that Statler was sick, and that Waldorf's wife would substitute. Her name turned out to be "Astoria." She looked remarkably like Statler wearing a dress.) In The Muppet Show, the two were always trashing Fozzie Bear's poor jokes, except for one occasion where Fozzie, with help from Bruce Forsyth, heckled them back. In contrast, they found themselves vastly entertaining and inevitably burst into mutual laughter at their own witticisms. It is later revealed in the Muppet Family Christmas special that the two hecklers were friends with Fozzie's mother, Emily Bear. Despite constantly complaining about the show and how terrible some acts were, they would always be back the following week in the best seats in the house. As to why, the original version of The Muppet Show theme song had Statler admitting, "I guess we'll never know."
  
  wn.com/Statler_and_Waldorf
• Stephanie D'Abruzzo
  Stephanie D'Abruzzo (born December 7, 1971) is an American actress, singer, and puppeteer.
  D'Abruzzo grew up in McMurray, Pennsylvania, a Pittsburgh suburb she has described as a "plastic bubble kind of town." She graduated from Peters Township High School, where she was active in the theater program, and attended the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, a summer program for gifted high school students.
  D'Abruzzo is a 1993 graduate of the Radio/Television/Film program at Northwestern University. A resident of the university's Communications Residential College (CRC), D'Abruzzo could often be caught watching (and, as it turns out, studying) Sesame Street. She also had a large collection of Muppet recordings, which she compiled into a mix-tape that she auctioned off for dorm fundraisers.
  Eventually, D'Abruzzo began to consider puppetry as a career, in part as a solution to finding acting roles after she "gained more than the Freshman 15 and [got] a bad perm." D'Abruzzo's production of a puppet television show called Freeform (directed by Elizabeth Kirkscey) won the National College Emmy award for comedy.
  
  wn.com/Stephanie_D'Abruzzo
• Steve Whitmire
  Steven Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer. He works for The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop and Disney's The Muppets Studio.
  Whitmire was born near Atlanta, Georgia. During childhood, he professed interest in puppetry. While in high school at Berkmar High School, Whitmire's nickname was "Kermit" because of his interest in the Muppets. He built his own crude version of Henson's alter ego, and performed the character at high school talent shows and choral recitals.
  Whitmire first appeared on local Atlanta TV with his then alter ego puppet Otis. WATL-TV was owned at that time by former Atlanta children's television host "Officer Don" Kennedy. Otis made appearances on various WATL 36 shows with Ludlow Porch, voice of the Georgia Bulldogs Larry Munson, Don Kennedy and Entertainment Page host Artie Goodman. As Otis, Whitmire interviewed Olivia Newton John during a tour promoting an album.
  He worked with puppets after graduating high school, and eventually got a job working on The Muppet Show in 1978. Since then, Whitmire has performed in almost every major Henson company project, including non-Muppet fare such as the feature films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and the ABC television series Dinosaurs.
  
  wn.com/Steve_Whitmire
• Tim Hill
  Timothy "Tim" Hill is an American film director and television writer.
  Hill began his career in 1993 as a writer and storyboard artist for Rocko's Modern Life, he also created the Kablam! skit Action League Now!. Hill directed the live-action family films Muppets from Space, Max Keeble's Big Move, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Hop. He is the nephew of director George Roy Hill.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Tim_Hill
• Tim Lagasse
  Timothy Lagasse is a puppeteer, puppet designer, and filmmaker. He earned his BFA from the University of Connecticut. Lagasse acts as a puppeteering consultant, and creates puppet films for stations like PBS, MTV, HBO, and Nickelodeon. In addition to his performance credits, Tim also teaches the art of puppetry, lecturing at the Lincoln Center Foundation and instructing students on modern television puppet techniques at the Puppet Arts Program at the University of Connecticut.
  
  wn.com/Tim_Lagasse
• Tony Garnett
  Tony Garnett (born 3 April 1936) is a film producer who has worked in feature films and on British television. He was born in Birmingham, England, and studied psychology at the University of London.
  One of his most famous early credits was the 1966 BBC television play Cathy Come Home. In 1969 after the filming of Kes, produced by Garnett and directed by Cathy Come Home's Ken Loach, they co-founded Kestrel Films. Further film credits include Prostitute, his directorial debut (1980), Earth Girls Are Easy (1989) and Beautiful Thing (1996).
  During the 1990s he became chairman of World Productions and remains so to date.
  In 1969, Tony Garnett was the producer of "The Save the Chldren Fund film." It was banned for over 40 years, but finally screened in 2011 by BFI.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Tony_Garnett
• Tyler Bunch
  Tyler Bunch is a puppeteer, puppet designer, director and actor. In addition to his work for the Jim Henson Company, Bunch has created and performed puppets for PBS, Nickelodeon, and Disney's The Muppets Studio. He has acted in a few Off Broadway productions and has made appearances on American television shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Currently he is directing the PBS children's television series SeeMore's Playhouse. He is also currently slated to be one of the puppeteers for the musical stage adaptation of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Tyler_Bunch
• Victor Yerrid
  Victor Yerrid is a puppeteer for the Jim Henson Company and has performed Muppet characters in many TV shows, movies, and TV commercials. Yerrid is best known in the Muppet World for his work on the online series Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony, in which he performed Waldorf along with an assortment of other characters.
  Yerrid is also a lead performer of the Jim Henson Company's Puppet Up! improv show and is currently working on The Skrumps for the company as well. He also was a lead puppeteer on the shows Crank Yankers and Greg the Bunny.
  Victor Yerrid is a frequent collaborator and working partner of Drew Massey.
  
  wn.com/Victor_Yerrid

Muppet Movie, The (1979)

"Muppet Movie, The (1979)" Actors

• Edgar Bergen
• Milton Berle
• Mel Brooks
• Steve Martin
• The Muppets
• Elliott Gould
• Carol Kane
• Madeline Kahn
• Scott Walker
• The Muppets

"Muppet Movie, The (1979)" Director

• James Frawley

• 'Zat You, Santa Claus?
• A Red and Green Christmas
• The Christmas Party Sing-Along
• Merry Christmas Baby
• The Man with the Bag
• Santa Baby
• It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
• North Pole Comedy Club
• Run, Run Rudolph
• Christmas Smorgasbord
• The Christmas Queen
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• I Wish I Could Be Santa Claus
• Jingle Bells

• The Muppet Show Theme
• Mahna Mahna
• There's a New Sound
• Lady of Spain
• Trees
• A Monologue by Fozzie Bear (feat. Fozzie Bear)
• Bein' Green
• Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear (feat. Fozzie Bear)
• Tenderly
• Wishing Song
• What Now My Love?
• Happy Feet
• We Got Us
• Closing Theme
• Rainbow Connection
• Movin' Right Along (feat. Fozzie Bear)
• Can You Picture That?
• Finale: The Magic Store
• Hey a Movie!
• Happiness Hotel
• The First Time It Happens (feat. Miss Piggy)
• Together Again
• I'm Gonna Always Love You
• He'll Make Me Happy (feat. Miss Piggy)
• One More Sleep 'Til Christmas
• Love Led Us Here (feat. Miss Piggy)
• I'm Going to Go Back There Someday

• She Drives Me Crazy
• Daydream
• On Broadway
• All I Have to Do Is Dream
• Born to Be Wild
• Mr. Spaceman
• Bein' Green
• Wild Thing
• Can't Get Along Without You
• All Together Now

• The Muppet Show Theme
• Hawaiian War Chant
• Macho, Macho Man
• Pachalafaka
• The Comedian's a Bear
• Dog Walk
• For What It's Worth
• I'm My Own Grandpaw
• Jamboree
• [dialogue]
• Pennsylvania 6-5000
• Sea Chantey
• Pig Calypso
• Titwillow (feat. Sam the Eagle)
• Mississippi Mud
• Sweet Tooth Jam
• Closing Theme

• Fraggle Rock Theme
• Pukka, Pukka, Pukka Squeetily Boink
• Let Me Be Your Song
• Wemblin' Fool
• Yes, We Can
• Catch the Tail by the Tiger
• There's a Lot I Want to Know
• Follow Me
• Friends Till the End
• Is It True?
• The Rock Goes On
• Pass It On
• Just Don't Know What Time It Is
• Convincing John
• Get Goin'
• Doozer Knitting Song
• The Way I've Got to Go
• Only Way Home
• Stuff Samba
• Sweet, Sweet Little Treat
• Closing Theme

• Surfin' USA
• Wooly Bully
• Under the Boardwalk
• Sugar Shack
• Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini
• Limbo Rock
• Papa Oom Mow Mow (feat. Rockapella)
• Kokomo
• Surfin'
• Walkin' on Sunshine
• Fun, Fun, Fun
• Wipe Out

• The Rainbow Connection
• Movin' Right Along
• Never Before, Never Again
• Never Before, Never Again (instrumental)
• I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along
• Can You Picture That?
• I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along (instrumental)
• I'm Going to Go Back There Someday
• America
• Animal.. Come Back Animal (instrumental)
• Finale: The Magic Store

• The Muppet Show Theme
• Mahna, Mahna
• There's a New Sound
• Coconut
• Lady of Spain
• Rhyming Song
• Upidee
• Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear
• Trees
• I'm Five
• Cuanto Le Gusta
• Borneo
• Sax and Violence
• Mr. Bassman
• Who?
• At the Dance
• Happy Feet
• We Got Us
• Closing Theme

• Overture
• Scrooge
• Room in Your Heart
• Good King Wenceslas
• One More Sleep 'Til Christmas
• Marley and Marley
• Christmas Past
• Chairman of the Board
• Fozziwig's Party
• When Love Is Gone
• It Feels Like Christmas
• Christmas Scat
• Bless Us All
• Christmas Future
• Christmas Morning
• Thankful Heart
• Finale: When Love Is Found, It Feels Like Christmas
• When Love Is Gone

• The Main Title
• Hey a Movie!
• The Big Red Bus
• Happiness Hotel
• Lady Holiday
• Steppin' Out With a Star
• The Apartment
• Night Life
• The First Time It Happens
• Couldn't We Ride
• Piggy's Fantasy
• The Great Muppet Caper
• Homeward Bound
• Finale: Hey a Movie!
• Reprise: The First Time It Happens

• The Muppet Show Theme
• Hawaiian War Chant
• The Rhyming Song
• Blue Skies
• Eight Little Notes
• Do Wah Diddy Diddy
• Jamboree
• Henrietta's Wedding
• Jam
• Magic Garden
• Macho Man
• Mad About the Frog
• Pennsylvania 6-5000
• Coconut
• Frog Kissin'
• Dog Walk
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Sixty Seconds Got Together
• It Was a Very Good Year
• The Muppet Show Theme

• The Muppet Show Theme
• Baby Face
• There's a New Sound
• A Monologue
• Cuento Le Gusta
• Who
• Time in a Bottle
• An Editorial
• Borneo
• At the Dance
• Upidee
• Just One Person
• Happy Feet
• Pigs in Space
• I'm Five
• Sea Chantey
• New York State of Mind
• The Pig Calypso
• When
• A Gypsy's Violin
• Wishing Song
• Animal Sings Gershwin
• For What It's Worth
• We Got Us
• Closing Theme

• Overture
• Scrooge
• Room in Your Heart
• Good King Wenceslas
• One More Sleep 'Til Christmas
• Marley and Marley
• Christmast Past
• Chairman of the Board
• Fozziwig's Party
• When Love Is Gone
• It Feels Like Christmas
• Christmas Scat
• Bless Us All
• Christmas Future
• Christmas Morning
• Thankful Heart
• Finale - When Love Is Found / It Feels Like Christmas
• When Love Is Gone
• We Need A Little
• Jingle Bell Rock
• Medley: Deck The Halls - Jingle Bells - White Christmas - Winter Wonderland
• I Hate Christmas
• We Wish You A Merry Little Christmas
• Have Yourselve A Merry Little Christmas
• Medley
• Do You Hear What I Hear
• Twelve Days Of Christmas
• Deck The Halls
• Medley

• We Need a Little Christmas
• Jingle Bells / Jingle Bell Rock
• Sleigh Ride
• Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
• Wassail Wassail
• Twas The Night Before Christmas
• Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire
• Pass It On
• Home for the Holidays
• Christmas Carol Medley: Happy Holidays / Ding Dong Merrily on High / I Saw Three Ships / Good King Wenceslas / The Holly and the Ivy / I'll Be Home for Christmas / Happy Holidays (reprise) / Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / Caroling, Caroling...
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas

• The Muppet Show Theme
• Welcome
• Mississippi Mud
• Wonderful!
• Make Time
• Mahna Mahna
• The Great Gonzo Intro
• The Great Gonzo Eats A Rubber Tire To Flight Of The Bumblebee
• Thank You Gonzo
• Mr. Bassman
• Fozzies Famous Hat Tricks
• Cottleston Pie
• Marvin Suggs Intro
• Play Lady Of Spain
• A Piece Of Obscurity
• Pachalafaka
• The Worst!
• Lydia The Tattooed Lady
• Robin Intro
• Halfway Down The Stairs
• Tenderly
• Exemplary Practitioners
• Im In Love With A Big Blue Frog
• Brilliant!
• When The Time Is Ripe
• Tit Willow
• Veterinarians Hospital (Soap Opera)
• Scooter Intro
• Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear
• S.Y.F.F.I.T.F.
• What Now My Love
• A Monologue By Fozzie Bear
• Hugga Wugga
• Trees
• Sax And Violence
• Bein Green

• Twelve Days of Christmas
• The Peace Carol
• Christmas Is Coming
• A Baby Just Like You
• Deck the Halls
• Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913
• The Christmas Wish
• Medley: Alfie the Christmas Tree / Carol for a Christmas Tree / It's in Everyone of Us
• Silent Night, Holy Night
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas