Ryan Dillon

 ( 1988 Births ) 

Ryan Dillon (born May 25, 1988) is an American puppeteer. He has played Elmo on Sesame Street since 2013. Dillon has worked as an ensemble The Muppets for the Jim Henson Company since 2005. He also played Cooper and Paul Ball for the interactive series Sesame Street TV for Xbox Kinect, and appeared on all four seasons of the new CBeebies and co-productions of Sesame Street, The Furchester Hotel, and The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo as Elmo. In March 2017, Dillon was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.

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Background and career Dillon was born on May 25, 1988, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a young puppeteer, Dillon came to the attention of Sesame Street producers when he went to an audition as a high school student. He took time off from school during his senior year to participate in the shooting for season 37 in 2005. In 2013, he succeeded Kevin Clash as the performer for Elmo in new productions and appearances following his resignation from Sesame Street in November 2012. He also replaced the late Richard Hunt as Don Music in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary tribute.

Dillon has taught classes in television puppetry at Pennsylvania State University, and various schools and centers in the United States. In addition to playing Elmo, Dillon has appeared on Kraft Foods commercials, "Healthy Teeth, Healthy Me," "Little Children, Big Challenges," "Little Discoverers: Big Fun With Science, Math and More," Julie's Greenroom, The Muppets, The Muppets Take the O2, the Nickelodeon Web series "Ask Sylvia" as the title character, and John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean (2010).

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Filmography

+ !Years !Title !Role !Notes
2013–present	Sesame Street	Elmo
2014–2017	The Furchester Hotel	Elmo, Guinea pig (ep. 12), Mail Bird (ep. 68), Christmas elf on Phone (ep. 68), Mr. Peckwood (ep. 74), Cat Bride (ep. 96)
2016	The Toycracker: A Mini-Musical Spectacular	Elmo	TV short; uncredited
2020	Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration	Don Music, Elmo, Lefty the Salesman, Roosevelt Franklin (puppetry only)
2020–2021	The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo	Elmo
2022–present	Mecha Builders	Mecha Elmo

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Awards and nominations

2023	Children's and Family Emmy Awards	Outstanding Puppeteer Performance	Sesame Street

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External links

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