Tim Lagasse (born 1968/1969) is an American director,
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 ...
and puppet designer. He has worked on films and television programs for
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...
,
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 ...
,
Disney XD
Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...
, and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
. He is known for playing the title character on
Noggin
Noggin may refer to:
General
* Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume
* Noggin (cup), a small cup
* Noggin, slang for head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, an ...
's ''
Oobi'', and Crash on
Disney XD
Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...
's ''
Crash & Bernstein''.
Lagasse has been nominated for three
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
s. In 1991, he became the first recipient of the
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...
Memorial Prize in Puppetry.
In 1993 he was presented with a Citation for Excellence by
UNIMA
UNIMA (''Union Internationale de la Marionnette'' - ''International Puppetry Association'') was founded in Prague in 1929 (the then Czechoslovak magazine Loutkář was UNIMA's first official journal in years 1929–1930). In 1981, the French pup ...
;
and later that year, received a Broadcast Design Silver Award for his series of short films, ''
A Show of Hands
''A Show of Hands'' is a live album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1989. The band released a video of the same name, originally on VHS and LaserDisc, the same year. A DVD version was released as part of a box set in 2006, an ...
''.
Biography
Lagasse was born in
Milford, Connecticut
Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmont. ...
. He attended
St. Mary's School and
Notre Dame High School in
West Haven
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
,
and 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 ...
in 1992 with a BFA in Puppet Arts.
One of his earliest roles was Mr. Cook on the Nickelodeon series ''
Allegra's Window
''Allegra's Window'' is an American children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon through its Nick Jr. block from October 24, 1994, to December 8, 1996, with reruns being shown until February 5, 1999; it was later shown on Noggin from F ...
''.
He also played the title character on the
Noggin
Noggin may refer to:
General
* Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume
* Noggin (cup), a small cup
* Noggin, slang for head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, an ...
's ''
Oobi'' series, and Crash on
Disney XD
Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...
's ''
Crash & Bernstein''. He has performed additional characters on ''
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 ...
'', ''
The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...
'' and the 2008 film ''
A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa''.
In addition to his performance credits, he has built puppets for
The Jim Henson Company
The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...
and
Puppet Heap
Puppet Heap, LLC is a puppet design, fabrication and production company based in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company was founded by artist and designer Paul Andrejco, who previously worked for The Jim Henson Company from 1992 to 2001 and designed th ...
.
Lagasse also teaches the art of puppetry, lecturing at the
Lincoln Center Foundation and instructing students on modern puppetry techniques at the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts Program. In 2011 he offered workshops on building puppets at the
University of Central Arkansas
The University of Central Arkansas (Central Arkansas or UCA) is a public university in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1907 as the Arkansas State Normal School, the university is one of the oldest in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As the state's only n ...
as part of
Heather Henson
Heather Beth Henson (born December 19, 1970) is an American contemporary puppet artist, the daughter of Jim Henson. She serves on The Jim Henson Company, The Jim Henson Legacy, and the Jim Henson Foundation Boards of Directors. She is also a Tr ...
's
Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Festival.
In 2012 he traveled to
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
with No Strings Productions as a puppet workshop trainer.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagasse, Timothy
American puppeteers
Muppet performers
Sesame Street Muppeteers
Living people
1969 births