Shola Lynch

Lynch with Joan Ganz Cooney, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and the cast of Season 3 (along with David Connell and Jon Stone).

Fannie and Shola, 20 years later.

Shola Lynch is a filmmaker who, from the age of 2 to 6, appeared as one of the kids on Sesame Street in the early 1970s.

She is best known for a series of Muppet & Kid Moments where she featured mostly with Kermit the Frog and Ernie & Bert. She also appeared in the street scenes of several episodes, and she would later be reunited with Kermit in the 1989 special Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting.

In 2020, Lynch recalled her time on Sesame Street in an interview for RogerEbert.com:

“I grew up in the 70s, so my favorite album was Free to Be You and Me, and “Sesame Street” fits into that. My street cred comes from “Sesame Street,” which is so corny to say. [laughs] It’s a world where we all get along, we do our best and we are trying to build community. I think that show is a sweet reminder of what democracy can look like, and sometimes I think we lose sight of that.

It wasn’t a documentary because there was a script for the adults, but the kids were not scripted exactly, and they would keep rolling until they got the interaction they were looking for. They would come at you with another question, or come at you with the same question in another way, and I had so much fun with Ernie and Bert.”

After her brief stint as a child actor, Lynch went on to become a nationally ranked track athlete. She received a liberal arts BA with honors from the University of Texas, an MA in American History from the University of California Riverside, and an MA in Journalism from Columbia University.

She got her start in documentaries working with Ken Burns on Frank Lloyd Wright and Jazz for PBS, and as a researcher on other projects. In 2004, she directed her first film, Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed (which aired on the PBS series P.O.V.), a documentary covering the presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for President of the United States. She directed Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, about college professor and social activist Angela Davis, and later served as a producer for Anderson Cooper: 360. She also became the curator of the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division for the New York Public Library at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Episodes

• Episode 0300 (spotting Alphabet Bates in the sky)
• Episode 0332
• Episode 0411 (riding Snuffy)
• Episode 0427 (with Gordon and Trey)
• Episode 0428 (with David and Trey)
• Episode 0441 (with John-John)
• Episode 0448
• Episode 0459 (with Maria)
• Episode 0475 (with Big Bird)
• Episode 0477
• Episode 0487 (with Brynne)
• Episode 0528 (with Susan)
• Episode 0532
• Episode 0537
• Episode 0569
• Episode 0570 (with Cookie Monster)
• Episode 0666
• Episode 0673 (with John-John)
• Episode 0687 (with the National Theatre of the Deaf)
• Episode 0702 (with Troy and John-John)
• Episode 0710
• Episode 0719 (with Joey)
• Episode 0816

Sketches

Picture	First Appearance	Description
	Episode 0306	Big Bird tells Shola that he's been having some trouble figuring out big and little. Shola says that she's little and Big Bird is big. Big Bird says, "Oh! That must be why they call me Big Bird." Shola answers, "Yeah! You're Big Bird. I'm Shola."
	Episode 0306	Big Bird and Shola demonstrate a big stick versus a little stick.
	Episode 0426	Kermit, Shola, and Fannie discuss giraffes (leading into a film of real giraffes with music by Joe Raposo). Shola enjoys manhandling Kermit, and jerks his head up and down to demonstrate the concepts of "down and high".
	Episode 0464	Ernie, Bert and Shola add 1 to 5. Video: Learning to Add and Subtract
	Episode 0469	Ernie, Bert and Shola demonstrate happy, sad, scared and mad. Online: (YouTube)
	Episode 0534	Kermit, Shola and Fannie have just finished watching the previous film. Shola hugs Kermit, and he comments, "She learned a lot from the octopus ... how to squeeze!"
	Episode 0537	Ernie, Bert and Shola talk about taking a nap.
	Episode 0542	Ernie, Bert and Shola demonstrate between. Video: Old School: Volume 2
	Episode 0544	Ernie, Bert and Shola use balls to demonstrate "big," "small," "smaller, and "smallest" with four balls.
	Episode 0549	Ernie and Bert discuss "heavy" and "light" with Shola.
	Episode 0551	Ernie, Bert, and Shola observe a letter A. Ernie calls out, "A, Bert!" Video: Old School: Volume 3
	Episode 0551	Shola dances in the upper-right corner during "Three of These Things."
	Episode 0553	Kermit demonstrates the concept of being next to someone, with assistance from Shola and Fannie.
	Episode 0560	Ernie, Bert and Shola talk about the letter X.
	Episode 0565	Ernie's lost the nickel he was going to use for candy, so Shola gives him another one.
	Episode 0619	Kermit, Shola, and Fannie count legs and heads.

External links

• sholalynch.com
• Encyclopedia.com entry