James Wojtal

James William Wojtal, Jr. (b. February 24, 1975, pronounced "Voy-tal") is a puppet fabricator, designer and performer who worked for the Jim Henson Company from 1998 to 2002, mostly on international versions of Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House and Mopatop's Shop, building new characters and refurbishing old ones.

Credits

• Bear in the Big Blue House -- rebuilt Ray with Tim Miller, rebuilt Bear heads
• Mopatop's Shop
• Kermit's Swamp Years -- built Blotch
• Plaza Sésamo -- rebuilt Lola and Pancho
• Animal Jam -- built early, developmental version of Bozark
• Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola -- built goat character
• It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie -- refurbished background characters, rebuilt Camilla and "Bouncer Beaker" (uncredited)
• Family Feud appearance -- built Mo Frackle
• Alam Simsim -- built Nimnim

Non-Muppet projects

• Imaginocean the Musical -- lead Puppeteer "TANK"
• Avenue Q, London -- shop manager, puppet builder
• Avenue Q, Off Broadway, Broadway, Las Vegas -- puppet builder
• Crank Yankers -- puppet builder
• Saturday Night Live -- puppet builder, props
• Wicked -- sculpture, prop builder, puppet builder
• The Puppet Works Theater -- puppeteer, puppet designer
• The Smoking Gun -- art department, puppeteer, puppet builder
• Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Studio -- sculpture, puppet designer
• Ruby Tuesday Chicken commercials
• Sony Bravia Mexico commercial
• Planet Camp
• CollegeHumor skits -- puppet designer, builder, lead puppeteer (Pot Cookie Monster, Vampire Reunion, Kiss The Girl Continued, Katy Perry Puppet Sex Dream)
• The Special Skins -- puppet designer, puppeteer
• "Sugar Baby" by Morningwood, music video -- puppet designer, performer
• The Smurfs -- puppet designer, puppet captain
• Morning Glory -- puppeteer, extra
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver -- performer

External links

• Portfolio Site
• Personal Blog
• Puppet 101 Interview
• James Wojtal's puppets on YouTube