Biography

Steve Whitmire

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Steve Whitmire was born on September 24, 1959 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Fraggle Rock (1983), The Muppets (2011) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996). He has been married to Melissa Whitmire since June 1978.

Shares the same birthday (September 24) as original Kermit the Frog Jim Henson.
Performed beloved Muppets Kermit the Frog from 1990, following Jim Henson's passing, through October 2016, when Whitmire was let go from his role with the Muppets, as confirmed by Disney.
Was nicknamed Kermit in his youth because he aspired to become a puppeteer and even performed with a Kermit which he made. His high school yearbook even has the name "Kermit" on the front cover.
He and Dave Goelz are the only Muppeteers to have been featured in all 8 theatrical Muppet movies (The Muppet Movie (1979), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Muppet Treasure Island (1996), Muppets from Space (1999), The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014)). Goelz and Whitmire also contributed to the two theatrical Sesame Street movies (Follow That Bird (1985) and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)) and the two fantasy Henson-company theatrical productions (The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986)).
Had a dream about meeting Jim Henson in a hotel lobby, assuring him that Steve's nervousness about performing Kermit the Frog would pass. The next morning, Steve was confident and able to record the Kermit voiceovers for The Muppet Christmas Carol.

[on taking over the role of Kermit from Jim Henson] That was really, really scary as you could imagine. I had known Jim for thirteen or fourteen years at that point and I had worked with him on everything he had done with this group of Muppets. Not Sesame Street but everything else. We worked very close together. It was super intimidating. It was a great honor to be asked and I was just scared to death. So, Brian and the family made the decision, sent me one of the puppets. I took it out of the box. I'd had the puppet on before. I'd never performed it but had had it on my hand just going around the shop. I put him on and held him up in front of a mirror. I knew how to make the puppet talk because I'd been doing this for a long time and I fiddled with some of those expressions that Jim would do with Kermit. Then I opened my mouth to say something and nothing came out. There was no way that I could find the voice. The puppet just sort of looked at me like, "come on. You can do it". I took it off and put it in a closet and left it there for a month. I couldn't touch it.
People always ask us about being the voices of the Muppets, and I know what they mean, but supplying the voice is just one small element of what it is we do. In essence, we are actors just like any other actor. We portray a role, and it's a full performance, not just a voice. The established Muppet Performers literally are the characters they bring to life.

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