Eric Jacobson

Eric Jacobson (born January 15, 1971)^[1] is an American puppeteer. He is best known for his involvement with the Muppets, performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as Sesame Street characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Guy Smiley and the left head of the Two-Headed Monster—all roles that he inherited from the characters' original performers, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, Jim Henson and Joey Mazzarino.^[2][3]

For other people with the same name, see Eric Jacobsen (disambiguation).

Eric Jacobson
Jacobson at San Diego Comic-Con in 2015
Born	(1971-01-15) January 15, 1971 (age 54) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	NYU Tisch School of the Arts (BFA)
Occupation	Puppeteer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Mary Jacobson
Children	2

Since 1994, Jacobson has been a regular performer for Sesame Street, where he has received Daytime Emmy Award and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Since 2001, he has performed as part of the Muppets cast in several feature films and television series, including The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005), The Muppets (2011), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), the ABC primetime television series, The Muppets (2015), and The Muppets Mayhem (2023).^[4]

Career

Jacobson was born on January 15, 1971, in Fort Worth, Texas. He was inspired to enter the field of puppeteering after the death of Jim Henson.^[1][5] In 1992, while attending New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he interned at the Jim Henson Company, working in the archival library.^[2][5][6] He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Tisch the following year.

Jacobson began his career as a puppeteer on Sesame Street in 1994, where he worked alongside Frank Oz,^[7] often performing the roles of Grover and Bert when Oz wasn't available.^[8][9] Following Oz's retirement from the roles, Jacobson became the characters' primary performer.^[10] Since 2005, he has performed Guy Smiley, a role previously performed by Henson.^[11] Following Caroll Spinney's retirement in 2018, Jacobson became the full-time performer of Oscar the Grouch.^[3]

For his work on Sesame Street, Jacobson has been nominated for both a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2011 and 2019, respectively.^[8][12]

For the Muppets, Jacobson began performing Miss Piggy in 2001, debuting at the "MuppetFest" fan convention.^[13] The following year, he began performing Fozzie Bear and Animal, debuting in the roles in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. In 2005, he also began performing Sam Eagle beginning in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. The aforementioned characters were also previously performed by Oz, whom he consulted with to accurately maintain the proper characterization, physicality, and voice for the characters.^[9]

Other work

Beyond his work with Henson, Jacobson has contributed to several other children's television shows, including The Puzzle Place and Jack's Big Music Show. He has also performed live puppet theater with Basil Twist, The Puppet Company, The Cosmic Bicycle Theater, and The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park.^[14]

For Disney, Jacobson performed Harry the Duck on Bear in the Big Blue House and puppeteered Piglet on The Book of Pooh.^[14] In 2007, he served as both puppeteer and writer on Playhouse Disney's Bunnytown.^[15][16]

Personal life

Jacobson is married to Mary Jacobson, whom he met during her time as a production assistant on Sesame Street.^[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland	Bert	Assistant performer
2002	It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Yoda	Performer; Television film
2005	The Muppets' Wizard of Oz	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle
2008	Abby in Wonderland	Grover, Bert	Performer; Direct-to-DVD film
	A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle	Performer
2011	The Muppets	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle, Marvin Suggs	Performer
2013	Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map	Shaggy Rogers	Performer (puppetry only); Direct-to-DVD film
2014	Muppets Most Wanted	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, Animal, Marvin Suggs	Performer
2021	Muppets Haunted Mansion	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, Animal	Performer; Halloween special for Disney+

Television

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
1994–present	Sesame Street	Bert (1997–present), Grover (1998–present), Guy Smiley (2005–present), Oscar the Grouch (2015–present)	Performer
1996–1998	Once Upon a Tree	Billy-Bob the Bobcat	Performer
1998	The Puzzle Place	Leon MacNeal, Blue Piece Police	Puppeteer (season 3)
1997–2006	Bear in the Big Blue House	Harry the Duck, Tucker Tutter	Performer
2001	Between the Lions	Bert	Performer, Episode: "Tweet! Tweet!"
2001–2003	The Book of Pooh	Piglet	Performer (puppetry only)
2002–2007	Play with Me Sesame	Bert, Grover	Performer
2005, 2012	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Grover, Fozzie Bear, Animal	Performer; 3 episodes
2005	The Tony Danza Show	Miss Piggy	Performer; 3 episodes
2005, 2007	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear	Performer; 2 episodes
2005–2007	Jack's Big Music Show	Little Bad Wolf, Phil the Coo-Coo Bird	Performer
2005, 2011, 2014	Live	Miss Piggy	Performer, 3 episodes
2005	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition	Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal	Performer
2006–2011	Pinky Dinky Doo	Additional voices
2007–2008	Bunnytown	Super Bunny, Green Cave Bunny, Royal Assistant Marvin, Captain Dan, Melvin	Performer (also writer)[16]
2008	Studio DC: Almost Live	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle	Performer
2011	So Random!	Miss Piggy	Performer, Episode: "Miss Piggy"
	Take Two with Phineas and Ferb	Miss Piggy	Performer, Episode: "Miss Piggy"
	Saturday Night Live	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear	Performer, Episode: "Jason Segal/Florence + The Machine"
	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno	Miss Piggy	Performer; 1 episode
2011, 2012	WWE Raw	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal	Performer, 2 episodes
2011, 2012	WWE Tribute to the Troops	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle	Performer; Television special
2013	Good Luck Charlie	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal	Performer, Episode: "Duncan Dream House"
	Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle	Performer; Television special
2015–2016	The Muppets	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle, Marvin Suggs
2019	Drop the Mic	Miss Piggy	Performer; 1 episode
	Big City Greens	Dr. Enamel	Voice role, Episode: "Hurty Tooth" Credited as Fozzie Bear; Jacobson credited as Fozzie Bear's "personal handyman"
2020	The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo	Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Two-Headed Monster (left head)	Performer[17]
	Muppets Now	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, Animal	Performer; Disney+ series
	The Power of We: A Sesame Street Special	Oscar the Grouch	Performer; Television special
2022	The Masked Singer	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal	Performer; Episode: "Muppets Night"
2023	The Muppets Mayhem	Animal	Performer; Disney+ series

Video games

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Sesame Street Sports	Grover	Voice role[18][19][20]
2002	Sesame Street Preschool	Bert
2003	Muppets Party Cruise	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear
2006	Bert and Ernie's Imagination Adventure	Bert
2011	Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster	Grover
	Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover!
2012	Kinect Sesame Street TV	Bert, Grover, Guy Smiley
2023	Disney Speedstorm	Miss Piggy

Other appearances

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic	Grover, Bert	Performer, theme park film
2008–2009	Muppet YouTube Shorts	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle	Performer
2010	The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear	Performer, web series
	Disney's Honorary VoluntEars Cavalcade	Miss Piggy	Voice, theme park parade
2013–2014	Muppisodes	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear	Performer, web shorts[21]
2014	Nerdy Nummies	Miss Piggy	Performer
2016–2019	The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle	Voice, theme park show
2017	The Muppets Take the Bowl	Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle, Newsman	Performer, live show at the Hollywood Bowl, Sept. 8–10[22]
2018	The Muppets Take the O2		Performer, live show at the O2, Jul. 13–14[23]
2019	Muppet Babies Play Date	Miss Piggy (baby), Fozzie Bear (baby), Animal (baby)	Performer (puppetry only), web shorts[24]
2021	The Muppets' Christmas Caroling Coach	Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Sam Eagle	Voice, theme park show[23]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Refs
2011	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series	Sesame Street	Nominated
2019	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance	When You Wish Upon a Pickle: A Sesame Street Special	Nominated
2021	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Performer in a Preschool Animated Program	The Monster at the End of This Story	Nominated
2023	Children's and Family Emmy Awards	Outstanding Puppeteer Performance	The Muppets Mayhem	Nominated	[25]
			Sesame Street	Nominated