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| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1979, in Hampstead, England |
| Founder | |
| Headquarters | Hollywood, California , United States |
| Parent | The Jim Henson Company |
| Website | creatureshop |
Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based in Hollywood, California, United States.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally created as a partnership with British illustrator Brian Froud to facilitate the production of The Dark Crystal . [1] Originally located in Hampstead, London, it received its name in order to differentiate it from Henson's original puppet workshop in New York City. [1] It was then used for future productions such as Labyrinth and The StoryTeller. [1]
It was relocated to Camden Town following Henson's death in 1990 and his son, Brian Henson, took over. [1] A third location in Burbank, California opened to serve Hollywood, and one of its first projects was the Dinosaurs television series. [2] Its main animatronic supervisor is London native David Barrington-Holt. [3]
Since The Jim Henson Company sold off the rights to The Muppets brand to Disney in 2004; the Muppet Workshop in New York is now credited as Jim Henson's Creature Shop. In the modern day, the New York shop specializes in hand puppets, including building The Muppets and most of the puppets in Sesame Street . [2] The Los Angeles branch creates more realistic animatronic creatures and creature suits. [2]
The location at Camden Town, London closed in Spring 2005, and was converted into a luxury apartment known as The Henson. [4]
In addition to practical effects, the shop also specializes in "digital puppetry", a form of computer animation that controls a digital avatar using manual puppet controls to animate them more quickly and easily than if it was entirely digital. [2] This is known as the "Henson Digital Puppetry Studio" and is used extensively in television, including the entirety of the series Sid the Science Kid . [2]
Besides films, the Creature Shop has created costumes for live events and theme park appearances. They created a realistic Smilodon "full-suit puppet" for a show at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which cost more than $100,000. [5] Some of their other costumes include the Polar Bear for Coca-Cola, Tony the Tiger, Shrek, Tommy and Chuckie from Rugrats , the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, [6] and the animatronics from Five Nights at Freddy’s.
James Maury Henson 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 (1983–1987) and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).
Brian Henson is an American puppeteer, filmmaker, actor and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He is the son of puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson.
Kevin Jeffrey Clash is an American puppeteer, director and producer best known for puppeteering Elmo on Sesame Street from 1985 to 2012. He also performed puppets for Labyrinth, Dinosaurs, Oobi, and various Muppet productions.
The Jim Henson Company, formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc., is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for its innovations in the field of puppetry, particularly through the creation of Kermit the Frog and the Muppets characters.
Richard S. Lyon is an American puppeteer, actor, and puppet designer and builder. He has worked for The Jim Henson Company as one of the operators of Big Bird. He appeared on Broadway originating the roles of Trekkie Monster, Nicky, the blue Bad Idea Bear, and other characters in the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q, a musical for which he designed and created all of the puppets. In the fall of 2005 he reprised his roles in the production of the show in Las Vegas for eight months before returning to the Broadway cast. Rick was a puppeteer on Sesame Street for 15 seasons, from 1987 to 2002. He also worked with Nickelodeon on the Stick Stickly project and on the Me + My Friends pilot. He was a lead puppeteer for the first season of Comedy Central's television program Crank Yankers. Rick has also appeared numerous times on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, for which he also provided the puppets he performed. Rick puppeteered a xenomorph chest burster in an "Alien" parody sketch with guest star Sigourney Weaver, and Yoda, Kermit the Frog, and Big Bird in satirical sketches, a pair of singing pants, and the Number Two. He also performed the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie-inspired puppets for the black and white throwback clip on the "15th Episode Anniversary Show" of At Home with Amy Sedaris.
Nikki Tilroe was an American actress, dancer and puppeteer. She is best known for her work as the "Mime Lady" on the children's television series Today's Special. She also operated Muppets on Fraggle Rock and played "Beaver" on Cucumber.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 American superhero film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Directed by Michael Pressman and written by Todd W. Langen, it is the sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and the second installment in the original Turtles film trilogy. It stars Paige Turco and David Warner, with the voices of Brian Tochi, Robbie Rist, Adam Carl, and Laurie Faso. Resuming from the events of the first film, the Shredder returns at command of the Foot Clan for revenge on the Turtles. When he learns the secret behind the Turtles' mutation, he becomes more dangerous than ever. The film reveals the origins of Splinter and the Turtles and introduces two new villains, Tokka and Rahzar. Unlike the first film, the Turtles mostly fight bare-fisted, to tone down the violence.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 1990 American superhero film based on the comic book characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It is the first film adaptation of the characters and was directed by Steve Barron and written by Todd W. Langen and Bobby Herbeck from a story by Herbeck. It stars Judith Hoag and Elias Koteas with the voices of Brian Tochi, Josh Pais, Corey Feldman, and Robbie Rist. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles follows the Turtles on a quest to save their master, Splinter, with their new allies, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, from the Shredder and his Foot Clan.
Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real-time by computers. It is most commonly used in filmmaking and television production but has also been used in interactive theme park attractions and live theatre.
David Chapman is an English actor, presenter, puppeteer and voice artist.
Brats of the Lost Nebula is a Canadian science fiction puppet computer-animated television series for kids. The series follows five orphaned children from different war-torn planets. As they search for their surviving family members, they must also band together to fight an evil invading force known as "The Shock".
David Forman is an English actor, stuntman, puppeteer and internet entrepreneur who has played several suit roles in Jim Henson's Creature Shop, notably as the character of Leonardo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film (1990). He also served as a stunt performer for The Bear (1988), The NeverEnding Story III (1994), The Flintstones (1994) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996).
Mak Wilson is a now retired English puppeteer, writer, CG animation director, and mocap artist. He is also known as Mac Wilson and Malcolm Wilson.
Allan Trautman is an American puppeteer. He is best known for his work with The Jim Henson Company.
David Alan Barclay is a British puppeteer who had worked on some projects of The Jim Henson Company. He has been at the cutting edge of animatronic puppetry since 1979. Barclay, who hails from London, is a Master Puppeteer, Animatronic Designer and Supervisor, a CG key frame Animator, and Director and Producer of animatronic and animation projects for film and television.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge is an American reality television game show on the Syfy cable network. It premiered on March 25, 2014, and ended on May 13, 2014.
Cheryl Lee Henson is an American puppet builder and philanthropist who has served as the president of the Jim Henson Foundation since 1992. A supporter of puppetry arts and artists, she serves as a board member of The Jim Henson Company. She was honored in 2010 at the LaMama Gala, and in 2011, she won the New Victory Arts Award for her leadership in puppetry.
John Stephenson, is a British director and a former vice-president and creative supervisor for Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He was nominated for a BAFTA film award in 1985 for Dreamchild and in 1991, he won an Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock is an American children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of creatures. It is a reboot of the 1983 series Fraggle Rock by Jim Henson. The first season was released on Apple TV+ on January 21, 2022. It was renewed for a second season which was released on March 29, 2024.
Lyle Conway is an actor, puppeteer, and designer, best known for his work with Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal (1982) and his work on Little Shop of Horrors through the creation of the Audrey II puppet.
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