Kevin Clash

Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer. He performed and voiced Elmo on Sesame Street from 1985 to 2012. He also performed puppets for Labyrinth, Dinosaurs, Oobi, and various Muppet productions. Clash developed an interest in puppetry at an early age and, in his teen years, performed for local TV children's shows in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. He joined the cast of Captain Kangaroo in the early 1980s and began performing on Sesame Street in 1984. He was the fifth puppeteer to perform Elmo, who became his signature character, and also served as an executive producer and director for the show. Clash worked in various productions with The Jim Henson Company and occasionally on other projects. Clash's autobiography, My Life as a Furry Red Monster, was published in 2006; he was later the subject of the documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2011). He resigned from Sesame Street on November 20, 2012, after allegations of sexual impropriety, all of which he denied and were later dismissed due to expiration of the statute of limitations. Clash returned to puppeteering as a supporting performer in the comedy The Happytime Murders (2018).