John Tartaglia is a multi-award-winning actor, director, writer, puppeteer, producer, and creator for television and theater.  

 

He is currently the creative supervisor & director of the “Fraggle Rock” franchise for the Jim Henson Company, which includes the Emmy Award-winning series “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” (streaming on Apple TV+), for which he serves as an executive producer, writer and puppet captain. He also performs the roles of Gobo Fraggle, Architect Doozer, Gunge, Barry Blueberry and Sprocket the Dog. John fell in love with the Fraggle world and puppetry as a 7-year-old in Maple Shade, New Jersey. Watching the iconic 1980s series “Fraggle Rock,” he decided early that he would become a professional puppeteer and someday work for Jim Henson. In addition to his work on “Fraggle Rock,” he maintains an overall creative development deal at the Jim Henson Company, developing and producing new television and live experience and theatrical projects.

 

Broadway theater audiences know John best for his acclaimed starring performance as Princeton and Rod in “Avenue Q,” for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won a Theater World Award and Clarence Derwent Award. His other Broadway credits include “Beauty and the Beast” (Lumiere) and the original cast of “Shrek the Musical” (Pinocchio and the Magic Mirror). Off-Broadway, he created, wrote and voiced several characters in John Tartaglia's “ImaginOcean,” which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and went on to have a hit international tour. 

 

John has voiced hundreds of puppets and animated characters over the past 25 years, including for many seasons of “Sesame Street,” where he got his first job and made history as the show’s youngest regular puppeteer at age 16. John was also the creator, executive producer and star of the Disney Junior series “Johnny and the Sprites,” which received Emmy Award nominations for his performance and for the show, and PBS’ “Splash and Bubbles” (based on his theatrical piece “ImaginOcean”), which also received multiple Emmy nominations. His countless other television acting, voice and puppeteering credits include “Ugly Betty,” “Bear in the Big Blue House,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” “Animal Jam,” “Blues Room,” “Sesame English” and “JoJo's Circus.” He also voiced Mr. Bluelight for Kmart and Extreme the Goldfish for Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish Crackers campaigns. 

 

Among John’s many theatrical directing credits across the country are Stephen Schwartz’s “The Secret Silk” and Jim Henson’s “Inspired Silliness” (both for Princess Cruises), “Kinky Boots” (3D Theatricals), Jim Henson's “Musical World” (Carnegie Hall), “Beauty and the Beast” (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), “Shrek the Halls” (DreamWorks Theatricals), “Because of Winn-Dixie” (Arkansas Rep; Goodspeed Opera House development) and several productions at The Muny in St. Louis, including “Shrek the Musical,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Tarzan,” “Annie,” “Matilda,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s “Mary Poppins.” He directed national tours of “Blue’s Clues Live!,” Jim Henson's “Dinosaur Train Live” and Jim Henson's “Sid the Science Kid Live,” as well as multiple shows for Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. John also directed and wrote the book for the Olivier Award-winning “Blippi Live!”    

 

John hosts his own weekly show, “Sunday Funday With John Tartaglia,” on SiriusXM’s On Broadway channel every Sunday from 2-8pm ET.

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Thanks in part to supportive parents — his dad a music director, his mom an actor,  his stepmother is a stage manager and his stepfather is an acclaimed insurance salesman (who attended every single performance of everything John’s done!!) — John Tartaglia found his creative passions early.

 

While John’s heart will always be in New York City, he now happily lives in Los Angeles with his adopted senior cat, Shanti, and senior dog, Dolly. ​

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