Kevin Clash

Kevin Clash (born September 17, 1960) is a American puppeteer whose characters include Elmo, 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".

Early years

Clash was born and raised in Turner's Station, a predominantly black suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Dundalk High School in Dundalk, Maryland, and is an alumnus of Towson University in Towson, Maryland.

Clash grew up with parents George and Gladys, older siblings George Jr. ("Georgie") and Anita ("NeNe"), and his little sister Pam. His father works as a flash welder operator at Raymond Metals and a neighborhood handyman, and his mother ran a daycare."My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud"]

Clash began building puppets at the age of ten. Clash's parents were supportive of his interest in puppetry, driving him to puppet shows, allowing for his love of television and craft, and not urging him to attend college when he announced he was pursuing puppetry professionally. Among his TV viewing was Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie", and "H.R. Pufnstuf". Clash has admitted he watched television inches away from the screen, with no permanent eye damage."My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud"] His parents were supposedly more amused than angered when he cut apart his father's good overcoat to create a monkey puppet with the fuzzy black lining."My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud"] As a tribute, Elmo's parents were named George and Gladys in an "Elmo's World" segment; their names have since changed.

He performed in Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a teenager.

Television appearances

His first television work was for the then-CBS affiliate in Baltimore, WMAR on a show called "Caboose". He also performed a pelican character for "Zep", a local Washington, D.C. show airing on WTOP-TV.

In the early '80s, he performed regularly, with Jim Martin, on Bob Keeshan's "Wake Up with the Captain" series, as well as building puppets and occasionally appearing on-camera.

From 1981 to 1986, he appeared in "The Great Space Coaster", as Goriddle Gorilla, Rory and Huggle Scuffy. On that show, he attracted the attention of Muppet designer Kermit Love, who invited him to work on various Henson projects.

Coming to the Muppets

Kevin Clash first met puppet builder Kermit Love in the 1970s. Kermit Love was occasionally able to arrange for Kevin Clash to visit the set of "Sesame Street". In 1979, the main Muppet performers were performing in a "Muppet Movie" float in the 1979 "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade", and extra puppeteers were needed for the "Sesame Street" float, so Kevin Clash got to perform Cookie Monster in the parade."What Elmo Has taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud"]

Later, in 1983, he was officially hired to perform in ten episodes of "Sesame Street". However, at the time he was performing full-time on two other shows, and the producers of both shows refused to work around Kevin Clash's schedule, so Clash was forced to tear up his contract to appear on "Sesame Street"."What Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud"]

Kevin Clash was also given the opportunity to perform in "The Dark Crystal", but Kermit Love talked him out of being involved in the movie, saying that he should concentrate on his work in the series that he was currently involved with.

Kevin Clash officially became a puppeteer on "Sesame Street" in 1984. Some of his earliest characters included Hoots the Owl, Baby Natasha, and Dr. Nobel Price, but it was Elmo who became his main character. Clash has also sung in voice-over in a variety of film and animation songs on "Sesame Street", including "In My Animal Book" and "Take Care of That Smile". During the late 1980s, Clash was involved with a variety of Henson productions. He performed P.J. in the Play-Along videos, and Father Bunny and Be-Bop in "Tale of the Bunny Picnic". He would also perform Eliott Shag on "Dog City", various characters in "Muppet Time" insertials, and he performed a number of characters, most notably Baby Sinclair, but also Howard Handupme, on Dinosaurs. He also performed the title character in the "Muppet Sing-Along" video "Billy Bunny's Animal Songs".

The Jim Henson Hour

He became one of the main Muppet performers on "The Jim Henson Hour". His two main characters on that show were the lizard-like Leon and the bass player Clifford. Out of these two, only Clifford has remained a major character, having also appeared in "The Muppets at Walt Disney World", "The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson", an appearance on "The Arsenio Hall Show", the albums "Muppet Beach Party" and "Kermit Unpigged", and the feature films "Muppets From Space" and "The Muppets Wizard of Oz". However, Clifford became a star when he hosted the short-lived "Muppets Tonight". On that show, Clash also performed Mulch and Craniac.

Film credits

Clash's film credits include Jim Henson's fantasy films "Labyrinth", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and ""; The Muppet movies "Muppet Treasure Island", "Muppets from Space", "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie", and "The Muppets Wizard of Oz"; and the "Sesame Street" films "Follow That Bird" and "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland".

Additional work

Clash was co-executive producer for "Elmopalooza", co-producer for "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland", and co-executive producer for "CinderElmo" and "Elmo's World". He has also served as either puppet coordinator, assistant puppet coordinator, or puppet captain on many productions, including "Labyrinth", "Muppet Treasure Island", and "Dog City".He occasionally played Miss Piggy and Statler in Muppets Tonight

Other Appearances

Food Network

Kevin Clash is also a featured guest on The Food Network show "Grill It! with Bobby Flay". He shares his killer ribeye steak recipe. [ [http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_gt/episode/0,3195,FOOD_31139_58528,00.html TV : Grill It! with Bobby Flay : Rib Eye Steaks : Food Network] (Accessed 2008-08-09)]

Puppeteer credits

* Muppet Characters: Black Dog, Carter, Clifford, Leon, Mulch, Polly Lobster, Real Old Tom, Spa'am, Sam the Eagle (in "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie")
* "Sesame Street" Characters: Elmo, Baby Tooth, Benny Rabbit, Hoots the Owl, Kingston Livingston III, Mel, Natasha, Wolfgang the Seal, Ferlinghetti Donizetti, The Big Bad Wolf (several '80s Sesame Street News Flash skits), The Duck
*Sesame Beginnings": Baby Elmo
*"Dinosaurs": Baby Sinclair, Howlin' Jay, Dinosaur Chief (face), Ethyl (sometimes, puppetry only), Howard Handupme, Monster (face), Mr. Ashland (face), Pterodactyl (puppetry only)
*"Dog City (special)": Ace Yu
*"Dog City (series)": Eliot Shag
*"Labyrinth": Fiery 1, Ambrosius (puppetry only), One of The Four Guards (puppetry only)
*"Muppet Sing-A-Long: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs": Billy Bunny
*"The Tale of the Bunny Picnic": Be-Bop, Father
*"The Great Space Coaster": Goriddle Gorilla (voice)
*"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles": Splinter
*"The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland": Grouch Jailer and Pestie
*"A Sesame Street Christmas Carol": Sam the Super Automated Ghost of Christmas Future (voice only)
*"Follow That Bird": Additional Muppet Performer

Awards & honors

* Kevin won Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work as Elmo and Hoots the Owl on "Sesame Street" in 1990, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

* He was the first recipient of the 'Miss Jean' Worthley Award for Service to Families and Children given by Maryland Public Television on June 9, 2007.

References and footnotes

External links

*
* [http://www.wpt.org/blog/2007/02/be-more-tuned-in-podcast-kevin-clash.html Downloadable 15-minute interview with Kevin Clash from Wisconsin Public Television] Kevin Clash talks about the development of his love of puppetry, how he became Elmo and what it's like to voice the most popular toy ever.
* [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2002/black.history/stories/28.clash CNN profile] an in-depth interview with photos for Black History Month
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1816191 'Sesame Street' Turns 35: Kevin Clash and Elmo] audio interview on National Public Radio
*
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY_sl1R3KJQ YouTube: Kevin Clash on "Rove Live"]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHDjPJsg9C4 YouTube: Elmo on "Rove Live"]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pACEhBr5WL8 YouTube: Clip from Jim Henson's funeral, including Clash performing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" in Elmo's voice]