Bio

Fran Brill is an Emmy Award winning performer who has had successful careers as an actress, voice-over performer, and puppeteer.

She was the first female puppeteer hired by Jim Henson for Sesame Street and has created the iconic characters of Zoe and Prairie Dawn and many other loveable Muppets. Over the years, she has also worked on Saturday Night LiveThe Jim Henson HourThe Muppet ShowDog CityThe Adventures of Elmo in GrouchlandPlay With Me SesameMen in Black and many CDs and DVDs including Zoe's Dance Moves with Paula Abdul.

Upon getting her B.F.A. from Boston University where she received classical training as an actress, Fran got her first acting job with Theatre Atlanta. Within months, one of the productions, a musical called Red, White and Maddox, got picked up and Fran found herself on Broadway.

As an actress, Fran has appeared in the films What About Bob? directed by Frank Oz and starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss, Midnight Run starring Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin, and Being There starring Peter Sellers. On television she has been on numerous soap operas including long runs on All My Children and the infamous How to Survive a Marriage for which she received an Afternoon TV Best Actress Award. Her other television credits include Spenser: For HireThird WatchLip Service directed by William H. Macy, Conan O'BrienHyde in Hollywood and several Law and Orders.

Her appearances on the New York stage include Look Back in Anger with Malcolm McDowell, DesdemonaShirmishes, and Hyde in Hollywood. She was twice nominated for the Drama Desk Award for What Every Woman Knows and Knuckle. She has also played Stella opposite Shirley Knight and Peter Weller in A Streetcar Named Desire and appeared in Otherwise Engaged with Roddy McDowall.

For three years she was the on-camera spokesperson for Actonel and has recorded hundreds of commercials including the famous Beautymist Pantyhose commercial starring Joe Namath. She has also provided voices for several cartoon series including Doug and Sheep in the City.

Fran served on the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild and on the Board of Directors of the Jim Henson Legacy.