Kevin Clash facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kevin Clash
Clash at GalaxyCon Richmond in 2023
Born	Kevin Jeffrey Clash (1960-09-17) September 17, 1960 (age 64) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Education	Dundalk High School
Occupation	Puppeteer director producer
Years active	1978–2012 2018–present
Spouse(s)	Genia Clash ​ ​ (m. 1986; div. 2003)​
Children	1

Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director, and producer. He is most famous for being the voice and puppeteer of Elmo on Sesame Street from 1985 to 2012. He also brought many other puppets to life in movies like Labyrinth, Dinosaurs, and various Muppet shows.

Kevin Clash loved puppets from a young age. As a teenager, he performed on local TV shows in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. He joined the cast of Captain Kangaroo in the early 1980s. Then, in 1984, he started working on Sesame Street. He was the fifth person to perform Elmo, but he made the character famous. He also became an executive producer and director for Sesame Street. Kevin Clash worked on many projects with The Jim Henson Company. In 2006, he wrote a book about his life called My Life as a Furry Red Monster. A documentary about him, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, came out in 2011. He returned to puppeteering in 2018 for the movie The Happytime Murders.

Kevin Clash's Early Life

Kevin Clash was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 17, 1960. He was the third of four children. His father, George Clash, was a welder and handyman. His mother, Gladys Clash, ran a small daycare center at their home. Kevin became interested in puppets when he was very young. He was inspired by children's shows like Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Sesame Street.

He made his first puppet, a version of Mickey Mouse, when he was 10 years old. When he was 12, he made a monkey puppet from his father's old coat lining. His first puppet shows were for the children at his mother's daycare.

Becoming a Young Puppeteer

By the time he was a teenager, Kevin had made almost 90 puppets! He based them on commercials, popular music, and his friends. While still in high school, Kevin performed his puppet shows all over Baltimore. He performed at schools, churches, fundraisers, and community events.

One day, at a neighborhood festival, a Baltimore TV personality named Stu Kerr saw Kevin perform. Stu Kerr became Kevin's first mentor. He hired Kevin to perform on his children's show Caboose at Channel 2. Kevin also built puppets for the Romper Room show. When he was 17, he met the famous puppeteer Kermit Love. Kermit Love also became a mentor to Kevin. In 1979, Kermit Love suggested that Kevin perform as Cookie Monster in the Sesame Street float during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. There, he met Jim Henson, who would later become his boss and good friend.

When Kevin was 19, he became a puppeteer for Captain Kangaroo. He started as a guest performer and sometimes even appeared on camera. The show's producers used some of Kevin's own puppet creations. In 1984, Jim Henson offered Kevin a job on his film The Dark Crystal. But Kevin had to say no because he was busy working on Captain Kangaroo and Kermit Love's show The Great Space Coaster. On The Great Space Coaster, Kevin worked as a producer for the first time.

Kevin Clash's Amazing Career

Captain Kangaroo ended in 1984, and Great Space Coaster also finished. This meant Kevin was free to work on projects with Jim Henson. He worked on the film Labyrinth and, of course, Sesame Street. Kevin started working on Sesame Street in 1983. He mostly performed general puppets called Anything Muppets. Some of his first characters included saxophone-playing Hoots the Owl, Baby Natasha, and inventor Dr. Nobel Price.

Bringing Elmo to Life

After 1985, Elmo, a furry red monster, became Kevin's main character. Three other puppeteers had performed Elmo before Kevin. But it was Kevin's special falsetto voice and ideas that made Elmo famous. He based Elmo's character on the young children who went to his mother's daycare. He also used parts of his own personality and his parents' personalities. Kevin followed advice from fellow puppeteer Frank Oz, who told him to always "find one special hook" for each character. Kevin decided that Elmo's main quality should be that he "should represent love".

Kevin Clash with Elmo at the Peabody Awards in 2010

Elmo became incredibly popular, especially during the "Tickle Me Elmo" craze in 1996. Because of this, Kevin's responsibilities at Sesame Street grew. He helped find, audition, and train new puppeteers. He became the senior Muppet coordinator, a writer, director, and co-producer for the "Elmo's World" part of the show. Kevin also worked with and guided puppeteers for Sesame Street's international shows around the world. He found working on these shows "a lot of fun" and "very rewarding".

He worked on the 1985 movie Follow That Bird. In 2007, he became a senior creative adviser for the Sesame Workshop. Until 2011, he was the only person who performed Elmo for all public appearances. This made his schedule very busy. Cheryl Henson, who leads the Jim Henson Foundation, said he was "essential" to the show.

Other Projects and Achievements

Kevin Clash also worked on the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in 1990. He also worked on the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, in 1991. He was the voice of Master Splinter. He performed in many shows with Jim Henson Productions. These included playing the Muppet Clifford in The Jim Henson Hour (1989). He also performed the puppets for Frank Oz's characters like Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in Muppet Treasure Island (1996).

Kevin performed in the films Muppets from Space (1999) and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005). He also worked on the TV series Muppets Tonight (1996–1998), where he played Clifford, who hosted the show. He performed characters and worked behind the scenes on the TV show Dinosaurs.

In 2006, Kevin Clash published his autobiography, a book about his life. It was called My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud. His life was also shown in the 2011 documentary film Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey.

After taking a break for several years, Kevin Clash returned to performing. He worked on the film The Happytime Murders (2018), which was directed by Brian Henson. He also puppeteered in the 2019 Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. This series is a story that happens before the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal.

Kevin Clash's Personal Life

Kevin Clash has mentioned that children often talk directly to Elmo, ignoring him. However, he finds that Black adults are often surprised when they meet him. He has said in interviews that his racial identity was important to his work and showed in his performances.

Kevin Clash was married for 17 years. He has a daughter who was born in 1993.

In 2015, Kevin Clash moved to Los Angeles. He continued to work on other Jim Henson Company productions. These included The Happytime Murders and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. In these, he performed characters like Lyle, Mr. Bumblypants, and Aughra.

Kevin Clash's Filmography

Awards and Honors

• Kevin Clash won Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work as Elmo on Sesame Street. He won these awards in 1990, 2005–2007, and 2009–2013. In total, he has won 27 Daytime Emmys and one Prime-time Emmy.
• He was the first person to receive the 'Miss Jean' Worthley Award for Service to Families and Children. This award was given by Maryland Public Television on June 9, 2007.
• On May 19, 2012, Kevin Clash received an honorary degree from Washington & Jefferson College.

See also

In Spanish: Kevin Clash para niños