Ed Christie

Edward Gustav "Ed" Christie (b. May 20, 1956) is a puppet designer and builder who has worked with Sesame Street and Henson Associates since an internship with Henson in 1978. Christie graduated from UMass/Amherst with a BFA/Education in 1979.
The first Muppet Christie created was Butch, originally designed as a sabertooth tiger used in the "Toothbrush" skit of the Caveman Days series on Sesame Street.Goldstein, Meredith. "Muppet master," The Boston Globe, Boston, MA. December 12, 2008.The Barretta Brothers: Episode #7, with Ed Christie, July 11, 2020 (1:22:50)
After years of learning Muppet design techniques, and building many of the classic Muppet characters, he was promoted to Muppet Supervisor in charge of Sesame Street (1991-1996). He was later promoted to Vice President/NY Muppet Workshop Supervisor (1997-2004) as well as Art Director for Henson on Sesame Street. He also contributed his skills to Henson Licensing and Publishing.
In 2004, Christie left Henson and was contracted by Sesame Workshop where he is currently designing characters for the domestic version of Sesame Street and Sesame Street International. He has designed the Muppet characters for Sesame in the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Russia, Israel, South Africa, Egypt, China, Poland, France, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and others. Christie is featured in the 2006 documentary The World According to Sesame Street.
He has won eight Emmy Awards for his work on Sesame Street and many nominations for other Henson productions. Christie's work was also seen in the Broadway productions of Doonesbury, Peter Pan, Sugar Babies and Encores! Carnival. He also designed, built and performed in the 2007 production of Carnival! at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. From December 5 to January 25, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum displayed the exhibit Rods and Monsters: the Puppets of Ed Christie.
Christie lives on Cape Cod and is an artist represented by the Alden Gallery in Provincetown, MA.
==Interviews==
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation interviewed Christie in 2004 for the Archive of American Television. The hour and a half interview was posted on YouTube in 2009.
==Muppet Credits==
===Designer===
For Jim Henson Productions
*The Muppet Show: Muppet Designer, built Mr. Dawson, Caterpillar, others
*The Muppet Movie: Muppet Designer/Film Crew - built Camilla the Chicken
*The Great Muppet Caper: Muppet Builder/Designer
*Fraggle Rock: Designer/Builder/Film Crew
*The Muppets Take Manhattan: Muppet Constructor/Designer, built Baby Piggy and others
*Little Muppet Monsters: Project Supervisor, built Tug Monster
*The Tale of the Bunny Picnic: Designer/builder/Film Crew - built the Dragonbunny, Great-great-great-great Grandmother Bunny, Snort
*A Muppet Family Christmas: builder of The Snowman
*The Christmas Toy: Muppet Design Group supervisor - built Belmont, Jack-in-the-Box
*The Primitives
*The Jim Henson Hour: Muppet Designer (Jojo & others), builder for Beard
*Dog City: built Bugsy Them, Mad Dog & Eddie the dalmatian puppy
*Muppet Meeting Films - built various characters
*The Muppet Christmas Carol: Designer/Builder - built Ghost of Christmas Present head
*The Animal Show (season 2)
*Muppet Treasure Island: NY Workshop Manager
*The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (season 1): built original The Cat in the Hat for pilot
*Bear in the Big Blue House - built Luna
*Muppets from Space: Workshop Manager
*Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola
*It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie: Muppet Workshop - NY Manager
*Carnival: NY City Center Encores: designed Carrot Top, Horrible Henry, Renaldo, and Marguerite
;For Sesame Workshop/International
*Sesame Street (1978-2004): Designer/Supervisor/Art Director; designed Abby Cadabby, Curly Bear, Rosita, Zoe, The Elephant, Lulu, built Aristotle
*Big Bird in China: Designer/Builder
*Follow That Bird - designed the Board of Birds, built Daddy Dodo's head
*Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration: Workshop Manager
*Elmo Saves Christmas: Muppet Workshop supervisor, designed Lightning the reindeer
*The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Character Design Supervisor - designed Bug, Pesties, Grizzy, Football Stenchman
*Alam Simsim (Egypt): designed Nimnim, Filfil, and Khokha
*Sesamstrasse (Germany): designed Feli Felu, Pferd, Wolle
*Sesamstraat (Holland): designed Purk
*Zhima Jie (China): designed Hu Hu Zhu, Xiao Mei Zi
*Galli Galli Sim Sim (India): designed Boombah, Chamki, Aanchoo, & Googly
*Sisimpur (Bangladesh): designed Ikri Mikri, Halum the tiger, Tuktuki and Shiku the jackal
*Sesame Tree (Northern Ireland): designed Potto, The Weatherberries, Hilda and Archie
*Jalan Sesama (Indonesia): designed Tantan the orangutan, Momon, Putri, and Jabrik the rhino
*Sesame Street (Japan): designed Mojabo, Teena, and Pierre (frog)
*Ulitsa Sezam (Russia): designed Kubik , Zeliboba, and Businka
*Sesame Park (Canada): designed Chaos the cat
*Rechov Sumsum — Shara'a Simsim (Israel/Palestine): designed Dafi, Haneen & Kareem the rooster
*Takalani Sesame (South Africa): designed Moshe, Zuzu, Kami, & Zikwe
*Sesame English (EFL): designed Tingo
*The Furchester Hotel (UK): designed Funella Furchester, Furgus Fuzz, Phoebe Furchester-Fuzz, Isabel
*Iftah Ya Simsim (United Arab Emirates): redesigned No'man and Shams
*Cleaner, Healthier, Happier campaign: designed Raya
===Performer===
*The Muppet Show: Additional Muppet Performer
*Sesame Street: Fred the Wonder Horse in "I'm Proud to Be a Cow", Uncle Ned, Baby Hungry
*1981 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: BeauregardThe Barretta Brothers: Ep #07 Alton Brown, Ed Christie, Ed Eyth (01:25:56)
*Big Bird in China: Puppeteer
*Don't Eat the Pictures: Puppeteer and wrangler
*The Muppets Take Manhattan: Additional Muppet Performer
*The Jim Henson Hour: Himself (Secrets of the Muppets)
*The World According to Sesame Street: Himself - Featured as Muppet Character Designer
==Non-Muppet Credits==
*Carnival!: 2007 Kennedy Centre production of the Broadway musical
*"Big City Park" BBC - designed Rauiri, Dara The Fox, & Billy Badger
*Alden Gallery - www.aldengallery.com
==Sources==
==External links==
*IMDb
*Internet Broadway Database
*Provincetown Banner "Christie builds puppets for the world, no strings attached" Dec 4th, 2008
*Boston Globe "Muppet master: A Truro artist breathes life into residents of 'Sesame Street'" by Meredith Goldstein, December 12, 2008
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Category:Designers
Category:Muppet Performers
Category:Puppet Wranglers