Tim Lagasse (born 1968/1969) 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 designer, actor and director. He has worked on films and television programs for

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...

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 ...

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Entertainment units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years old ...

, and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. He is known for playing the title character on Noggin's '' Oobi'', and Crash on

's '' Crash & Bernstein''. Lagasse has been nominated for three

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 ...

s. In 1991, he became the first recipient of the

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

Memorial Prize in Puppetry. In 1993 he was presented with a Citation for Excellence by

UNIMA UNIMA (''Union Internationale de la Marionnette'' – International Puppetry Association) is an international non-governmental organization that brings together puppeteers and puppet enthusiasts to develop and promote the art of puppetry. It was ...

; and later that year, received a Broadcast Design Silver Award for his series of short films, ''

A Show of Hands ''A Show of Hands'' is a live album by the Canadian rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush, released in 1989. The band released a A Show of Hands (video), video of the same name, originally on VHS and LaserDisc, the same year. A DVD version w ...

''.

Biography

Lagasse was born in

Milford, Connecticut Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, between New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the Vill ...

. He attended St. Mary's School and Notre Dame High School in West Haven, and 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, ...

in 1992 with a BFA in Puppet Arts. One of his earliest roles was Mr. Cook on the Nickelodeon series ''

Allegra's Window ''Allegra's Window'' is an American musical children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon during its Nick Jr. block from October 24, 1994, to December 8, 1996, with reruns being shown until February 5, 1999; it was later shown on Nogg ...

''. He also played the title character on the Noggin's '' Oobi'' series, and Crash on

's '' Crash & Bernstein''. He has performed additional characters 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 ...

'', ''

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 the 2008 film '' A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa''. In addition to his performance credits, he has built puppets for The Jim Henson Company and Puppet Heap. Lagasse also teaches the art of puppetry, lecturing at the Lincoln Center Foundation and instructing students on modern puppetry techniques at the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts Program. In 2011 he offered workshops on building puppets at the University of Central Arkansas as part of Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Festival. In 2012 he traveled to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

with No Strings Productions as a puppet workshop trainer.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagasse, Timothy American puppeteers Living people 1969 births Notre Dame High School (West Haven, Connecticut) alumni People from Milford, Connecticut