Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing 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 the role of Yoda in the Star Wars series, providing the voice for the character in several films and television series. His work as a director includes The Dark Crystal (1982), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), What About Bob? (1991), In & Out (1997), Death at a Funeral (2007), and an episode of the US TV series Leverage (2011). 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 Catholic. They 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. Oz is known for his work as a puppeteer, performing with Jim Henson's Muppets. As a teenager, he worked with the Vagabond Puppets at the Children's Fairyland of Oakland, which is how he first met Henson. He was 19 when he joined Henson in New York to work on the Muppets in 1963. His characters have included Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle on The Muppet Show, and Grover, Cookie Monster and Bert on Sesame Street. In addition to performing a variety of characters, Oz was one of the primary collaborators responsible for the development of the Muppets. Oz performed as a Muppet performer in over 75 productions, including Labyrinth, video releases, and television specials, as well as countless other public appearances, episodes of Sesame Street, and other Jim Henson series. His puppetry work spans from 1963 to the present, although he semi-retired from performing his Muppets characters in 2001 In 2001, his characters were taken over primarily by Eric Jacobson (with David Rudman as Cookie Monster). Oz is also known as the performer of Jedi Master Yoda from George Lucas' Star Wars series. Jim Henson had originally been contacted by Lucas about possibly performing Yoda. Henson was preoccupied and instead suggested Oz be assigned as the chief puppeteer of the character, as well as a creative consultant. Oz performed the puppet and provided the voice for Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Oz also provided the voice of the computer-generated imagery (CGI) Yoda in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). The conversion to CGI was met with some criticism among fans, but Oz himself said that was "exactly what [Lucas] should have done. Oz had a great deal of creative input on the character and was himself responsible for creating the character's trademark syntax. Oz returned to voice Yoda in several Disney theme park attractions, Star Tours–The Adventures Continue and within Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge as well as in the Star Wars Rebels episodes, "Path of the Jedi" and "Shroud of Darkness". Oz voiced Yoda in the 2020 Oculus Quest VR game "Tales from the Galaxy's Edge" alongside original C-3P0 voice actor Anthony Daniels. He directed the 2017 documentary Muppet Guys Talking: Secrets Behind the Show the Whole World Watched in which he and other Muppet performers discuss working behind the scenes with Jim Henson and the Muppets.