Kevin Clash Biography

Fast Facts

• Made his first puppet at age 10, using the lining of his father's coat to create fur
• Put on puppet shows at Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a young teen
• Started his TV career while in his teens on WMAR, a Baltimore TV station, and WTOP, a Washington, D
• C
• , station
• Met Muppet designer Kermit Love while in his teens; Love was so impressed with him that he invited him to perform with the Muppets in the 1979 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade
• First visited the Sesame Street set while in his late teens
• Worked as a puppeteer on Captain Kangaroo in the early 1980s
• Although Elmo had been around since 1979, it wasn't until Clash took over the red furry fellow in 1984 that the character's popularity went through the roof
• Released his autobiography, My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud, in 2006
• Featured in Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, a 2011 documentary