Steve Whitmire

Steve Whitmire: Biography in Details

Who is Steve Whitmire?

Steve Whitmire is an American puppeteer. He is best known for his performance in ‘The Muppets’ and ‘Sesame Street’.

Steve Whitmire: Age, Parents, Siblings, Family, Childhood, Ethnicity

Steve Whitmire was born Steven Lawrence Whitmire on September 24, 1959, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. As of 2022, his age is 63.

There is very little information about his family background. He has not revealed anything about his parents and siblings.

He spent his childhood days in Atlanta, Georgia. Whitmire was interested in puppetry in his childhood.

His main inspiration is the legendary Jim Henson whose footsteps he later followed in his career.

Whitmire recalled,

“I wrote a letter to Jim Henson at the time, and he wrote back. It’s an amazing thing for a ten-year-old to get a letter back from a TV star.”

His ethnicity is Caucasian.

Education: School/College, University

Talking about his educational background, he went to a local high school and graduated from there. However, he has not revealed which school he went to.

Steve Whitmire: Professional Life, Career

Steve Whitmire first garnered attention while performing with his puppet, Otis as part of an unpaid gig at Six Flags Over Georgia and later at a local Atlanta TV station.

Whitmire was the second performer of Muppets, Kermit the Frog, and Ernie after the death of the original performer and his own inspiration, Jim Henson in 1990.

Brain Henson and Jane Henson personally asked him to be Kermit’s performer a few weeks after Henson’s death.

Heather Henson arranged for a Kermit puppet in his house but he hid it before deciding on taking on the role. Later, he also took over the roles of Statler and Beaker, too.

Muppet characters original to Steve include Rizzo the Rat, Lips, Foo-Foo, Wembley Fraggle, Sprocket the Dog on Fraggle Rock, and Bean Bunny in The Tale of the Bunny Picnic (1986).

Furthermore, he also voiced Link Hogthrob in the Muppets Party Cruise and Muppet RaceMania video games.

In 2011, he also performed Link in the movie, The Muppet which was the first speaking appearance of the character since the death of the original performer, Jim Henson.

In 2008, he took over The Muppet Newsman.

Body Measurements: Height, Weight

Whitmire stands tall with a height of 6 feet 4 inches and weighs 72kg.

His hair color is blonde and his eyes are green in color.

Steve Whitmire: Net Worth, Salary

Steve Whitmire has an estimated net worth of around $12 million as of 2022.

He reportedly has an annual salary of around $2 million.

Rumors, Controversies

In July 2017, The Muppets Studio announced that Whitmire was no longer involved with them.

The Henson family stated that he made “outrageous demands and often played brinkmanship”.

Whitmire later alleged that Disney offered him consolation prizes if he voluntarily left. The case received a lot of attention and was very controversial.

He has expressed interest in continuing the role in the future.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Steve Whitmire is active on social media sites. He is active on Facebook and Instagram but seems to be inactive on Twitter.

He has around 1.6k followers on Facebook and around 3.6k followers on Instagram.

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Steve Whitmire's Birthday Dates