Frank Oz

Frank Oz
Oz at the 38th Annual Saturn Awards 2012
Born	Frank Richard Oznowicz (1944-05-25) May 25, 1944 (age 72) Hereford, England
Nationality	American
Education	Oakland Technical High School
Alma mater	Oakland City College
Occupation	Puppeteer, filmmaker, actor
Years active	1960–present
Spouse(s)	Robin Garsen (m. 1979; div. 1994) Victoria Labalme (m. 2011)
Children	3

Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; born May 25, 1944) is an English-born American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. His career began as a puppeteer, where he performed the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in The Muppet Show, and Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover in Sesame Street. He is also known for being the puppeteer and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars films.

His work as a director includes Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), What About Bob? (1991), In & Out (1997), Bowfinger (1999), The Score (2001) and Death at a Funeral (2007).

Oz was born in Hereford, England, the son of Frances (née Ghevaert) (1910-1989) and Isidore Oznowicz (1916-1998), both of whom were puppeteers. His father was also a window trimmer. His parents moved to England after fighting the Nazis with the Dutch Brigades. Oz's Dutch/Polish father was Jewish and his Flemish mother was a lapsed Roman Catholic. Oz left England when he was six months old and lived in Belgium until he was five. Oz and his family moved to Montana in 1951. They eventually settled in Oakland, California. Oz attended Oakland Technical High School and Oakland City College. He worked as an apprentice puppeteer at Children's Fairyland as a teenager with the Vagabond Puppets, a production of the Oakland Recreation Department, where Lettie Connell was his mentor.