Kathleen Kim | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1979 or 1980 Queens, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, puppeteer |
Kathleen Kim (born 1979 or 1980) is an American actress and puppeteer, best known for her puppeteering work on Sesame Street .
Kim began studying puppetry while working in reality television as a story producer. [1]
In 2014, she took a Sesame Puppetry Workshop, [2] and was later brought on to Sesame Street as a puppetry assistant. She performed in Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas in 2016. In 2017, she and three other performers joined Sesame Street’s first Mentorship Program. Kim took on a consulting producer for the 2021 special "See Us Coming Together,” in which she also performed Ji-Young in her debut as the series' first Asian-American muppet. [1] In addition to Ji-Young, Kim also puppets Elena, the mother of Julia, the series's first autistic character. [1]
Kim also performed in the 2020 comedy series Awkwafina is Nora from Queens as the walk-around character Toe-Knee. Although producers originally planned to dub the character in post-production, they later opted to keep Kim's original vocal performance. [3]
| Year | Show | Role | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas | Christmas special | [1] | |
| 2019 | Helpsters | [1] | ||
| 2020 | Awkwafina is Nora from Queens | Toe-Knee | [1] | |
| 2021–present | Sesame Street | Ji-Young, Elena | [1] |
Kim was born in Queens, New York to Korean immigrant parents. [4] [5] She grew up in Manhattan and Long Island, learning English in part by watching Sesame Street. [1] [5] She studied TV/Radio and Children’s Studies at Brooklyn College. [1]
She lives with her husband and daughter in Queens. [1] She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and underwent a mastectomy. [3]