Jennifer Barnhart (born March 11, 1972) is an American actress and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

, with a portfolio of television and theatre performances.Playbill interview
, September 10, 2004, retrieved on July 24, 2008IMDb
Jennifer Barnhart, retrieved on June 23, 2006

Biography

Barnhart was born and grew up in

Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census. History The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...

. She graduated from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in acting with a concentration in

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a perform ...

Puppetry career

In 1996, Barnhart began her puppeteer career performing on ''Once Upon a Tree'' performing Mara the Beaver and Mrs. Peeper the Owl. She made her

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut in 2003 and is a featured performer in the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

-winning musical '' Avenue Q'', in which she also appeared

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

.Internet Broadway Database
Jennifer Barnhart, retrieved on August 8, 2006
cast, retrieved on July 24, 2008 She was a regular puppeteer on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

series '' Oobi'', playing Mrs. Johnson and various incidental characters. She also stars as Cleo on PBS's literacy education series, ''

Between the Lions ''Between the Lions'' is an American animated/live-action/puppet children's television series designed to promote reading. The show was a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mis ...

'', and performed the puppetry for Kanga and

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

's ''

The Book of Pooh ''The Book of Pooh'' is an American children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; th ...

''. She is a ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...

performer who took over the roles of Mama Bear in 2001 and Gladys the Cow in 2002. Barnhart also worked as a puppeteer in ''

Johnny and the Sprites ''Johnny and the Sprites'' is an American children's musical television show that aired every weekend on the "Playhouse Disney" block on Disney Channel. The show was created by, produced by, and starred John Tartaglia (most famous for his work o ...

'', a Disney Channel children's show created by her ''Avenue Q'' co-star

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American actor, singer, and puppeteer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 19 ...

. As of season 46 of ''

'', she performs the role of Zoe, following the retirement of

Fran Brill Fran Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on ''Sesame Street'', as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film '' Being There'' (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest fi ...

in 2014.

Acting career

She appeared on screen as a puppeteer in the " Web" episode of '' Law & Order: SVU'' in May 2006. In regional theatre, she played the angel in ''

Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for O ...

'' (Gallery Players), Olivia in ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

'', and Cassie in ''Rumors'' (

Connecticut Repertory Theatre Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) at the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut is a professional theatre run by the Department of Dramatic Arts, a part of the School of Fine Arts. Its current artistic director is Megan Monaghan Rivas; pa ...

). In 2011 she appeared as police officer Randy Osteen in Tracy Letts's new play "Superior Donuts" at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. In 2010, she portrayed Chicago Police Department detective Lorna Diamond in the ''Law & Order: SVU'' episode, " Behave".

TV credits

* ''

Helpsters ''Helpsters'' is an American educational children's television series created by Tim McKeon and produced by Sesame Workshop and Big Indie Pictures as an original series for Apple TV+, and premiered on November 1, 2019, coinciding with the launch ...

'', 2019-present * ''

Julie's Greenroom ''Julie's Greenroom'' is an American educational pre-school television series that was released on Netflix on March 17, 2017. Characters * Miss Julie (portrayed by Julie Andrews) – The director of the Wellspring Center for the Performing Arts ...

'', 2017-2019 * ''

The Chica Show ''The Chica Show'' is an American live-action/animated children's television series based on the puppetry segments of ''The Sunny Side Up Show'' on Sprout, which features the chicken puppet character Chica in full episodic and animated adventure ...

'', 2012-2014 * ''Law & Order: SVU'', 2010 * ''

Lomax, the Hound of Music ''Lomax, the Hound of Music'' is a 2008 American children's television series that uses puppets, humans, live music and animation. It aims to promote musical education for children ages 3–7, inspired by John Feierabend's "First Steps in Music" ...

'', 2008 * ''

'', 2007 * '' Law & Order: SVU'', 2006 * ''Exposing the Order of the Serpentine'', 2006 * ''

'', 2001–present * '' Smart Cookies'', 2016 * '' Oobi'', 2000–2005 * ''

'', 2001 * ''

'', 2000-2010 * ''

Bear in the Big Blue House ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...

'', 1997–1998 * ''Once Upon a Tree'', 1996

References

External links

* *
Interview with Jennifer Barnhart
at Playbill.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnhart, Jennifer Living people American stage actresses American puppeteers University of Connecticut alumni American television actresses Sesame Street Muppeteers People from Hamden, Connecticut 1972 births Muppet performers