One of the most prominent of all vocal contributors to Jim Henson's Muppets during the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, Kevin Clash grew up in a predominantly African-American Baltimore suburb, and projected an unusual degree of aptitude for both designing original puppets and performing with them, from a tender age. He kick-started his career with work on The Great Space Coaster and Captain Kangaroo, then commenced his longstanding association with Henson by voicing a myriad of characters on the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth, and extended the working relationship into contributions to several of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, Muppet Treasure Island, and a host of other Henson projects. Clash found his broadest appeal, however, by providing the voice for a single character: the beloved, impossibly cute Elmo -- both on Sesame Street and in the feature The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999). Clash won a myriad of Emmys for that portrayal. He relayed his life story in the 2006 autobiography My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud.
by Nathan Southern
biography
