John Tartaglia

John Nicholas Tartaglia (born February 16, 1978) is an American singer, actor, dancer, and puppeteer. Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade, New Jersey, U.S.. He joined Sesame Street's puppetry team at the age of 16 part-time, performing as a right hand and many minor characters, including Phoebe and being the backup for Kevin Clash's Elmo. He performed Ernie for the second season of Play with Me Sesame, Oscar the Grouch for Sesame Street 4D and Kerm... more

John Nicholas Tartaglia (born February 16, 1978) is an American singer, actor, dancer, and puppeteer. Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade, New Jersey, U.S.. He joined Sesame Street's puppetry team at the age of 16 part-time, performing as a right hand and many minor characters, including Phoebe and being the backup for Kevin Clash's Elmo. He performed Ernie for the second season of Play with Me Sesame, Oscar the Grouch for Sesame Street 4D and Kermit the Frog. He became a full time part of Sesame Street at the age of 18. Tartaglia created and puppeteered the roles of Princeton (the recent college grad) and Rod (the closeted Republican-investment banker) in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2004. He left the Broadway cast of Avenue Q on January 30, 2005. Tartaglia appeared in 2004 at the 14th annual Broadway Bares, which was a great success raising $525,000 to benefit Broadway Cares... less