Peter Linz (born June 28, 1967) is an American

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 the ...

and actor. Known for his work with

the Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

, Linz's most prominent role is performing for the character

Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

who was introduced in the 2011 feature film ''

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

''. Since 1991, Linz has performed on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...

'', where he later took on the roles of Herry Monster and

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis ...

on ''

'' in 2017. Linz recounts receiving the role of Walter as his favorite; "Apart from my wedding day and birth of my children, being cast as Walter was one of the greatest moments of my life. I was beyond happiness." He has performed many characters on children's television shows. Some of his best known performing roles are Snook in '' It's a Big Big World'', Tutter and Pip in ''

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 a ...

'', Pooh in ''

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

'', Tizzy on '' Squeak!'' (season 1), and Theo Lion in '' Between the Lions'', though he has also performed in ''

Blue's Room ''Blue's Room'' is an American puppetry television series spin-off from ''Blue's Clues''. It was created by Traci Paige Johnson and Angela Santomero. The show aired on Nickelodeon as part of its Nick Jr. block, and originated as short segment ...

'', ''

'',Sam
Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Muppets
DiscDish.com, January 19, 2012. and '' The Puzzle Place''. Following the departure of

Steve Whitmire Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on '' The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire originated the roles of Rizzo the R ...

from The Muppets, Linz took over the roles of Statler, Link Hogthrob, Robin the Frog, and

Lips The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

. Linz also performed in the Broadway musical '' Avenue Q'', and provided the voice of Moz in the English dub of '' Sheep and Wolves''.

Personal life

Linz was previously married to Marlene E. Rudy from 1993 until her death in 2016; together they have three children. He married his second wife Alice Dinnean in 2023.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linz, Peter 1967 births Living people University of Georgia alumni American puppeteers American male voice actors People from Decatur, Georgia