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Eric Jacobson (born January 15, 1971) 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 ...
. He is best known for his involvement with the Muppets, performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear,
Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''
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 ...
'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Guy Smiley and the left head of the Two-Headed Monster—all roles that he inherited from the characters' original performers, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, Jim Henson and Joey Mazzarino. Since 1994, Jacobson has been a regular performer for ''
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 ...
'', where he has received
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
and
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
nominations. Since 2001, he has performed as part of the Muppets cast in several feature films and television series, including '' The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'' (2005), '' The Muppets'' (2011), '' Muppets Most Wanted'' (2014)'','' the ABC primetime television series, '' The Muppets'' (2015), and '' The Muppets Mayhem'' (2023).


Career

Jacobson was born on January 15, 1971, in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
. He was inspired to enter the field of puppeteering after the death of Jim Henson. In 1992, while attending
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
's Tisch School of the Arts, he interned at the Jim Henson Company, working in the archival library. He earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...
degree from Tisch the following year. Jacobson began his career as a puppeteer on ''
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 ...
'' in 1994, where he worked alongside Frank Oz, often performing the roles of Grover and Bert when Oz wasn't available. Following Oz's retirement from the roles, Jacobson became the characters' primary performer. Since 2005, he has performed Guy Smiley, a role previously performed by Henson. Following Caroll Spinney's retirement in 2018, Jacobson became the full-time performer of Oscar the Grouch. For his work on ''Sesame Street'', Jacobson has been nominated for both a
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming and a
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2011 and 2019, respectively. For the Muppets, Jacobson began performing Miss Piggy in 2001, debuting at the "MuppetFest" fan convention. The following year, he began performing Fozzie Bear and
Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
, debuting in the roles in '' It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.'' In 2005, he also began performing Sam Eagle beginning in '' The Muppets' Wizard of Oz''. The aforementioned characters were also previously performed by Oz, whom he consulted with to accurately maintain the proper characterization, physicality, and voice for the characters.


Other work

Beyond his work with Henson, Jacobson has contributed to several other children's television shows, including '' The Puzzle Place'' and '' Jack's Big Music Show''. He has also performed live puppet theater with Basil Twist, The Puppet Company, The Cosmic Bicycle Theater, and The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park. For
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
, Jacobson performed Harry the Duck on '' Bear in the Big Blue House'' and puppeteered Piglet on '' The Book of Pooh''. In 2007, he served as both puppeteer and writer on Playhouse Disney's '' Bunnytown''.


Personal life

Jacobson is married to Mary Jacobson, whom he met during her time as a production assistant on ''
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 ...
''.


Filmography


Film


Television


Video games


Other appearances


Awards and nominations


References


External links

*
Bunnytown
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Eric Living people Male actors from Fort Worth, Texas Year of birth missing (living people) American puppeteers American male voice actors