Noel MacNeal launched his career on the award-winning Sesame Street, where he honed his craft with puppetry legends Jim Henson & Frank Oz. He’s performed on the show, has trained puppeteers for the international co-productions of Sesame Street, and is an Emmy Award-winning director for the series. Noel was the spirit and voice of “Bear,” of the Emmy Award-winning series Bear in the Big Blue House and the Disney Channel morning series Breakfast with Bear. His repertoire of characters includes “Kako” on the series Oobi, and “Magellan” on the award-winning Eureeka’s Castle; “Leon” on PBS’s The Puzzle Place; and the principal puppeteer of “Raphael” for the motion picture Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. Noel is the resident puppeteer for the HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and swing puppeteer & swing voice for “Audrey 2” for Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors. He’s written scripts for Bear in the Big Blue House; The Puzzle Place; The Magic School Bus; Cyberchase; Eureeka’s Castle; and Gullah Gullah Island; author of the puppet-making book 10-Minute Puppets with Noel MacNeal and the follow-up BOX and his autobiography Hey, This Was Really Fun: Life Lessons from Sesame Street to The Big Blue House & Beyond available on Amazon.