Mike Quinn

Michael Quinn (born 28 July 1964) is an English puppeteer, animator and actor.

Early life and career

Quinn was born in London, but grew up in Enfield, Middlesex. He began puppeteering at age eight.

In 1977, Mike regularly visited the set of The Muppet Show with his homemade puppets, eventually meeting Jim Henson. Through his visits, he learned more about puppeteering and received encouragement from Jim Henson and his co-workers.

After leaving school in 1980, Quinn joined The Jim Henson Company and worked on the 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper puppeteering in crowd scenes and acting as a double for various main Muppet characters. Quinn later designed and built the Podlings for The Dark Crystal, where he also performed the Skeksis Slave Master SkekNa (who was voiced by David Buck).

During the filming of Return of the Jedi, Quinn (and David Barclay and David Greenaway) were assistant puppeteers to Frank Oz in his performance of Yoda. He also performed the role of Nien Nunb in Return Of the Jedi. Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, Quinn joined with fellow puppeteer David Barclay, creating Ultimate Animates, a production company specializing in new building and performing techniques for internal and external puppet productions.

Quinn joined George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic as an animator, first working on Jurassic Park III and then Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

He reprised his role as Nien Nunb in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a role that he reprised again in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and performed for the Disney theme park ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

In 2018, Quinn provided the voice of the Stan Laurel-based character Agnes Packard in the Cartoon Network series Mighty Magiswords opposing Ken Mitchroney voicing her Oliver Hardy-based husband Mr. Pachydermus in the episode "Pachydermus Packard and the Camp of Fantasy".

Quinn appeared as a guest on The George Lucas Talk Show during their May the AR Be LI$$ You Arli$$ Marathon fundraiser.

Personal life

From 1989 to 2004, Quinn was married to fellow puppeteer Karen Prell.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes 1981 The Great Muppet Caper Additional Muppets 1982 The Dark Crystal SkekNa - the slavemaster Skeksis Performer plus puppet builder 1983 Return of the Jedi Nien Nunb and various roles Yoda (assistant performer) 1985 Dreamchild Puppeteer 1986 Little Shop of Horrors Puppeteer 1986 Labyrinth Goblins plus various Puppeteer The Tale of the Bunny Picnic Bulbous, Mayor Bunnyparte 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Puppeteer 1989 How to Get Ahead in Advertising Puppeteer of the boil and growing head 1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol Undertaker performer of Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear 1996 Muppet Treasure Island Additional Muppets 1996 Mary Reilly Special effects Puppeteer 1998 A Bug's Life Animator 1999 Toy Story 2 Animator, including the 'Woody's Roundup' TV sequence 2001 Jurassic Park III Dinosaur animator 2002 Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones Animator 2005 The Muppets' Wizard of Oz Additional Muppets Credited as Michael Quinn 2011 The Muppets Additional Muppets 2014 Muppets Most Wanted Additional Muppets 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Nien Nunb 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2019 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Television

Other appearances Year Title Role Notes 2015 TEDx Talk Assistant puppeteer to Kermit the Frog 2016 Outside Lands Music Festival Golden Gate Park, San Francisco Muppet Performer for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem August 7 2017 The Muppets Take the Bowl Additional Muppet Performer Live show at the Hollywood Bowl, September 8–10 2018 The Muppets Take the O2 Additional Muppet Performer and voices Live show at the O2 Arena London, July 2019 and continuing Disney Theme Park Ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Nien Nunb Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland