Kevin Clash

Kevin Clash (b. September 17, 1960) is an accomplished puppeteer whose characters include Elmo, Clifford and Hoots the Owl. He currently serves as Sesame Street Muppet Captain and co-executive producer.

In the fall of 2006, Kevin 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.

Clash grew up with parents George and Gladys, older siblings George Jr. ("Georgie") and Anita ("NeNe"), and little sister Pam. His father works as a flash welder operator at Raymond Metals and a neighborhood handyman, and his mother ran a daycare.

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 television 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. 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. As a tribute, Elmo's parents were named George and Gladys in an Elmo's World segment; their names have since changed.

He performed on Baltimore's Harbor Front as a teenager.

In high school, he was voted "Most Likely to be a Millionaire."

Television appearances
His first television work was for a CBS affiliate in Baltimore. He also performed a pelican character for Zep, a local Washington, D.C. show airing on WTOP.

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 occassionally 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.

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.

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 was 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 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze; 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.

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


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinter


 * The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Grouch Jailer and Pestie


 * A Sesame Street Christmas Carol i-Sam


 * Follow That Bird Additional Muppet Performer

Trivia

 * Although Richard Hunt and Brian Muehl both performed Elmo in his earliest appearances on Sesame Street, the character did not take off until Clash started performing him in 1985.
 * Kevin Clash performed Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle on the set for most scenes of Muppet Treasure Island, basing his delivery on a tape recording of Frank Oz at a table reading. Oz later dubbed each character's part.
 * Kevin's vocal coach has warned him that continuing to perform Elmo could cause permanent damage to his vocal health.
 * According to The Age, Clash "has a spot of tendonitis in his puppet shoulder, but he's not complaining."
 * His daughter Shannon was born in 1993.

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, and 2005.