Jennifer Barnhart (born March 11, 1972) is an American actress and

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 ...

, with a portfolio of television and theatre performances.Playbill interview
, September 10, 2004, retrieved on July 24, 2008IMDb
Jennifer Barnhart, retrieved on June 23, 2006

Early life

Barnhart was born and grew up in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a New England town, town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant (Connecticut), Sleeping Giant". The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Region, Connecti ...

. She graduated from 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, ...

with 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 ...

in acting with a concentration in

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...

Career

Puppetry career

In 1996, Barnhart began her puppeteer career performing on ''Once Upon a Tree'' performing Mara the Beaver and Mrs. Peeper the Owl. She made her Broadway debut in 2003 and is a featured performer in the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning musical '' Avenue Q'', in which she also appeared

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

.Internet Broadway Database
Jennifer Barnhart, retrieved on August 8, 2006
, cast, retrieved on July 24, 2008 She was a regular puppeteer on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

series '' Oobi'', playing Mrs. Johnson and various incidental characters. She also stars as Cleo on PBS's literacy education series, ''

Between the Lions ''Between the Lions'' is an American animated/live-action/puppet educational children's television series designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston, Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, and Mississipp ...

'', and performed the puppetry for Kanga and

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

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 ...

's ''

The Book of Pooh ''The Book of Pooh'' is an American preschool educational children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on the Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based ...

''. She is a ''

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 ...

'' Muppet performer who took over the roles of Mama Bear in 2001 and Gladys the Cow in 2002. Barnhart also worked as a puppeteer in '' Johnny and the Sprites'', a Disney Channel children's show created by her ''Avenue Q'' co-star

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American puppeteer, actor, and singer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, i ...

. As of season 46 of ''

'', she performs the role of Zoe, following the retirement of Fran Brill in 2014.

Acting career

She appeared on screen as a puppeteer in the "

Web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

" episode of '' Law & Order: SVU'' in May 2006. In regional theatre, she played the angel in ''

Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a 1991 American two-part Play (theatre), play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The two parts of the play, ''Millennium Approaches'' and ''Perestroika'', may be presented separate ...

'' (Gallery Players), Olivia in ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'', and Cassie in ''Rumors'' (

Connecticut Repertory Theatre Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) at the University of Connecticut is a professional theatre run by the Department of Dramatic Arts, a part of the School of Fine Arts. The complex is located on the main UConn campus in Storrs, Connecticut. Its c ...

). In 2011 she appeared as police officer Randy Osteen in Tracy Letts's new play "Superior Donuts" at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. In 2010, she portrayed Chicago Police Department detective Lorna Diamond in the ''Law & Order: SVU'' episode, " Behave".

TV credits

* '' Helpsters'', 2019-present * ''

Julie's Greenroom ''Julie's Greenroom'' is an American educational pre-school television series that was released on Netflix on March 17, 2017. Characters * Miss Julie (portrayed by Julie Andrews) – The director of the Wellspring Center for the Performing Arts. ...

'', 2017-2019 * '' The Chica Show'', 2012-2014 * ''Law & Order: SVU'', 2010 * '' Lomax, the Hound of Music'', 2008 * '' Johnny and the Sprites'', 2007 * '' Law & Order: SVU'', 2006 * ''Exposing the Order of the Serpentine'', 2006 * ''

'', 2001–present * '' Smart Cookies'', 2016 * '' Oobi'', 2000–2005 * ''

'', 2001 * ''

'', 2000-2010 * ''

Bear in the Big Blue House ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it a ...

'', 1997–1998 * ''Once Upon a Tree'', 1996

References

External links

* *
Interview with Jennifer Barnhart
at Playbill.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnhart, Jennifer Living people American stage actresses American puppeteers University of Connecticut alumni American television actresses People from Hamden, Connecticut 1972 births Female puppeteers