About Steve Whitmire
Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work with the Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop, and the Muppets Studio. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire originated the roles of Rizzo the Rat, Lips, Wembley Fraggle, and Bean Bunny. He also inherited the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie after Jim Henson's death in 1990; he performed the characters until 2016 and 2014, respectively. In later years, he also performed Statler and Beaker. == Career == Whitmire first appeared voluntarily at a pre-show event at Six Flags Over Georgia. He performed with his then alter-ego puppet Otis for the children waiting to see a multimedia show. Before graduating high school, Whitmire had his first "professional" puppeteering job using Otis at "The World of Sid & Marty Krofft" in Atlanta, the first indoor theme park. From there Whitmire appeared on local Atlanta TV live for 2 1/2 hours every day on "The Kids Show with Otis" taking telephone calls from children and adults. The show received more than 2000 calls per hour. WATL was owned at that time by former Atlanta children's television host "Officer Don" Kennedy.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.