Mike Quinn (puppeteer)
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Mike Quinn (born in 1964) is an English actor, animator, and puppeteer. He is also known as Mike Quinby, Michael E. Quinn, and Michael Quinn.
Contents
Early life and career
Quinn, who hails from London, began puppeteering at age eight, with a magic act for his family.
In 1977, Quinn was a fan of the Muppets and got to meet Jim Henson where he'd regularly visited the set of The Muppet Show with his homemade puppets where learned and received various encouragement from Jim Henson and his co-workers.
Upon leaving school around 1980, he joined up with Jim Henson upon being hired by him when it came to working on The Great Muppet Caper where he filled in on crowd scenes and doubling up for the main Muppet characters. Mike Quinn later designed and built the Podlings for The Dark Crystal where he also performed the Skeksis Slave Master SkekNa (who was voiced by David Buck).
From 1987 to 2004, Mike Quinn was engaged to fellow puppeteer Karen Prell. When it came to Return of the Jedi, Mike Quinn assisted Frank Oz into performing Yoda alongside Kathryn Mullen. He also performed Nien Nunb in Return Of The Jedi as well. Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mike Quinn joined forces with fellow puppeter David Barclay where they created Ultimate Animates, a production company created to experiment and develop new building and performing techniques for many of their own internal, as well as external, puppet productions. This led to Quinn directing and producing many productions.
When Jim Henson died, Mike Quinn was present at Jim Henson's memorial where he joined the other puppeteers in the "Just One Person" number operating one of the Penguins from The Muppet Show.
Mike Quinn later took up a talent for animating when he joined up with George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic, first animating the famed dinosaurs in Jurassic Park III and then moved on to animate on Yoda and other creatures in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
He reprised his role as Nien Nunb in Star Wars: The Force Awakens[1] and will reprise his role in Episode VIII.[2]
Personal life and family
He is also a relative of Mia Farrow since Mike's grandmother was the first cousin of Mia Farrow's mother Maureen O'Sullivan.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | The Great Muppet Caper | Additional Muppets | |
| 1982 | The Dark Crystal | SkekNa | Performer |
| 1983 | Return of the Jedi | Nien Nunb and various roles | Yoda (assistant performer) |
| 1986 | Labyrinth | Goblins | puppeteer |
| The Tale of the Bunny Picnic | Bulbous, Mayor Bunnyparte | Voice | |
| 1992 | The Muppet Christmas Carol | Randy Pig, Undertaker | Voice, Performer of Miss Piggy and Fonzie Bear |
| 1996 | Muppet Treasure Island | Additional Muppets | |
| 2005 | The Muppets' Wizard of Oz | Additional Muppets | Credited as Michael Quinn |
| 2011 | The Muppets | Additional Muppets | |
| 2014 | Muppets Most Wanted | Additional Muppets | |
| 2015 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Nien Nunb | |
| 2017 | Star Wars: Episode VIII | Nien Nunb | [3] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983–87 | Fraggle Rock | Gobo Fraggle and various | |
| 1987 | Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories | Brown Gosling | Credited as Mike Quinby |
| 1988 | The Storyteller | Devil | Episode: "The Soldier and Death" puppeteer |
| 1989 | The Ghost of Faffner Hall | Riff | 13 episodes |
| 1994 | The Secret Life of Toys | Various |
Crew
- Dreamchild - Puppeteer
- Jurassic Park III - Animator
- Little Shop of Horrors - Puppeteer
- Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones - Animator
- Toy Story 2 - Animator
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Puppeteer (UK)
