David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with

the Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

and ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

''. Rudman currently performs the roles of Scooter, Janice, and Beaker for The Muppets Studio, which were all originated by Richard Hunt, as well as

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As ...

and Baby Bear on ''Sesame Street''.

Career

Rudman has been a ''Sesame Street'' performer since 1985—currently performing

(since 2001), Baby Bear and the right head of the Two-Headed Monster (since 1998). He has received four Emmy nominations as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work on ''Sesame Street''. Rudman has also directed several web videos for ''Sesame Street'' such as "Cookie Monster Auditions for Saturday Night Live" and "Conversations with Bert". He has performed in numerous television shows and specials including ''Saturday Night Live'', ''The Colbert Report'', ''The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon'', ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' and ''The Muppets'', where he performed characters originally portrayed by Richard Hunt, such as Scooter, Janice, Bobby Benson and Wayne. His film credits include ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'', ''Labyrinth'', ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', ''A Muppet Christmas Carol'', ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'', ''The Muppets'' and ''Muppets Most Wanted''. Following the departure of

Steve Whitmire Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on '' The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire originated the roles of Rizzo the R ...

in 2016, he became Beaker's new performer in 2017.

Personal life

Rudman attended Highland Park High School and graduated in 1981. He has been a speaker at the school's biennial Focus on the Arts program since 2003. He attended college at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. Rudman was the speaker at the 2005 graduation ceremony for the

Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago was a for-profit art and culinary school in Chicago, Illinois. It briefly operated as a non-profit institution before it closed in 2018. The school was one of a number of Art Institutes, a franchise of f ...

.www.ilic.artinstitutes.edu

Spiffy Pictures

Spiffy Pictures is a Chicago-based production company that was founded by David and Adam Rudman in 2003. The studio consists mainly of live-action television shows developed for networks such as Noggin,

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

, the Nick Jr. Channel, and PBS. In addition to his work on ''Sesame Street'' and with the Muppets, Rudman is co-owner of Spiffy Pictures where he co-created, executive produced, directed and performed in '' Jack's Big Music Show'' (Noggin), '' Curious Buddies'' (Nick Jr. Baby), '' Bunnytown'' (Disney Junior), '' Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map'' (Warner Bros.), ''Frankie and Frank'' (Nick Jr.), and '' Donkey Hodie'' (PBS Kids). He is the creator, executive producer, character designer, director and voice director of the animated series '' Nature Cat'' (PBS Kids), also voicing several characters including Leo the Mammoth, Prospector Jones, Nevin, and the Seeker.

Filmography

Film

Television

Other appearances

References

External links

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Spiffy Pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudman, David 1963 births Living people American male television writers American male voice actors American puppeteers American television directors American television producers American television writers American voice directors Highland Park High School (Illinois) alumni Place of birth missing (living people)