Dave Goelz

After becoming intrigued by the puppetry and set design on the hit children's television show "Sesame Street," puppeteer and voice actor Dave Goelz was able to get a meeting with one with the show's creators, Jim Henson, and was offered a job as a Muppet builder.

Goelz's first "appearance" on a Muppet-related program was 1974's half-hour special, "The Muppets Valentine Show," for which Goelz created and performed the character Brewster. Afterwards, he was offered a full-time job, and worked on another special, 1975's "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence," for which he built the show's host, Nigel. However, the late 70s was when Goelz truly came into his own in the Muppet world, providing the voice for several characters in the popular holiday program "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" (1977). But more significantly, a year earlier, Goelz became a major player in the creation and performance of various Muppets on the prime-time television series "The Muppet Show," for which he performed such beloved characters as Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and Zoot. In the wake of the show's success (for which Goelz and his co-workers won an Emmy in 1978), he has either voiced or performed puppetry for the television show "Fraggle Rock" and the movie "Labyrinth," and is the voice actor for Disney's Figment.