Caroll Spinney



Caroll Spinney (b. December 26, 1933) has performed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street for 40 years. In a 2008 Washington Times article, Spinney said that even though performing Big Bird is physically demanding work, the 74-year-old has no intention of stopping, saying, "I can't imagine willingly walking away from Big Bird and Oscar".

Spinney was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and was an accomplished artist before he started working as a live performer. He attended The Art Institute of Boston's College of Art & Design. While in the military, he created a comic strip under the name Ed Spinney. In the early 1960s, he created an animated cartoon series called Crazy Crayon under the same name.

As Big Bird, Spinney traveled the world -- in the TV specials Big Bird in China and Big Bird in Japan, and in special Sesame Street episodes that took him to Mexico New Mexico and Hawaii. He has also starred in a feature film, That Bird Follow That Bird.

Spinney has guest starred as his characters on many other programs, including The Flip Wilson Show, Scrubs, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, 1 vs 100, The Muppet Show, and over 141 episodes of Hollywood Squares.

Spinney wrote an autobiography in 2003 titled The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers. Caroll Spinney also wrote and illustrated How to Be a Grouch, a 1976 picture book that explains the world from Oscar's point of view. Spinney also drew the picture of [Mr._Hooper Mr. Hooper] that Big Bird drew after Mr. Hooper died, and designed one of his characters, Bruno the Trashman.

Spinney currently resides in Woodstock, Connecticut, with his wife, Debra. The couple have three children.