Don Austen

Don Austen is an English puppeteer. He began his career in 1981 at Cannon Hill Park's puppet theatre in Birmingham. Austen joined the Jim Henson Creature Shop in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth. He was a puppeteer for other blockbuster movies including Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), The Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Bear (L'ours) (1988), The Witches (1990), and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).

Most notably he performed in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), inside both the Ghost of Christmas Present (alongside Michael Caine) and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He also managed briefly to boost numbers in Muppet Treasure Island (1996) as Pirate Crew and Cannibals.

Austen's British TV debut was on the irreverent cult ITV puppet show Spitting Image. (1987–90)

Austen voiced and puppeteered Sky One's DJ Kat for more than 2000 award-winning DJ Kat Shows (1989–95) and 200 breakfast shows as Earl E Bird on Channel 4's Early Bird (1991).

...
Wikipedia