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Frank Oz
Sign in to saveAlso known as Frank Richard Oznowicz
English and American director, actor, and puppeteer
Frank Oz is an English and American director, actor, and puppeteer known for working across film, television, and performance. He matters because he has contributed significantly to entertainment across multiple creative disciplines, including directing major films and performing with puppets.
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Film & TV
Hereford, Herefordshire, England, UK
Frank Oz (born Richard Frank Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor, and puppeteer. He is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show and for directing films, including the Little Shop Of Horrors remake and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He is also the operator and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars franchise.
Known for
- The Muppet Script — Self (archive footage)2025
- fozzie descuido venga la alegría — Fozzie2025
- Inside Out 2 — Mind Cop Dave (voice)2024
- Jim Henson Idea Man — Self2024
- Disney Legends Awards Ceremony — Self2024
- STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces — Self - Director2024
- Jerry Nelson: A Celebratory Birthday Animatic — Grover (voice) / Cookie Monster (voice) / others (voice)2022
- Obi-Wan Kenobi — Yoda (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)2022
- LIGHT & MAGIC — Self - Yoda Puppeteer (archive footage)2022
- Echoes of Violence — Dante2021
via TMDB
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Frank
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Hereford
- Occupation
- director
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- English language
- Notable work
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- Image
- 2024-03-08 SXSW-2024 comedy-directors 1.jpg
- Work location
- United States
- Residence
- Manhattan
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Frank Oz
- date of birth
- 1944-05-25
- start of work period
- 1963-00-00
- name in native language
- Frank Oz
- related category
- Category:Films directed by Frank Oz
- social media followers
- 138657
- writing language
- English language
- birth name
- Frank Richard Oznowicz
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Frank Richard Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Star Wars, as well as his directorial work in feature films and theater.
The son of puppeteers, Oz worked as an apprentice puppeteer during his teenage years in Oakland, California. Despite his interest in journalism, he continued his career as a puppeteer when he was hired by the Jim Henson Company in 1963, going on to perform several television characters such as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle on The Muppet Show (1976–1981) and Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover on Sesame Street from 1969 to 2013. He was hired by Lucas to perform as Yoda in the Star Wars film series, beginning with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and reprising the role in seven subsequent films and various media for more than four decades.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Frank Oz” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.