Brian Henson
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Brian Henson, the son of famed Muppets creator Jim Henson, was rushed into his father's position as head of the company when the elder Henson died unexpectedly in 1990 at age 53. Since then, the third of five children and eldest son has forged the Henson-Disney relationship (Jim Henson had sold out to Disney in the 80s) and has won mostly applause for both invigorating the Muppets franchise and branching out into new areas, such as the Emmy-winning NBC miniseries "Gulliver's Travels" (1996).
As a teenager, Henson began working for his father, doing puppet work on "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981). He continued working with the company after dropping out of the University of Colorado, toiling as puppeteer on such films as "Return to Oz" (1985), "Santa Clause: The Movie" (1985), "Little Shop of Horrors" (1986) and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1989). But Henson was 27 with virtually no producing credits when he was thrust into the presidency of the family company. There were several difficult years and many in the business thought him ill-equipped for the role, or simply as green as Kermit the Frog. Henson proved them wrong and has a resume brimming with credits of his own. In 1990, he won a Daytime Emmy for directing an episode of a children's series "Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories" (The Disney Channel) and also served as executive producer, episodic director, and puppeteer on the ABC series "Dinosaurs" (1990-93), executive produced the short-lived series "Jim Henson's Dog City" (Fox, 1992), and "Jim Henson's Secret Life of Toys" (The Disney Channel, 1994). In 1996, Henson oversaw the critically praised but short-lived "Aliens in the Family" (ABC), a sort of intergalactic "The Brady Bunch" wherein an earthling and an extraterrestrial marry and raise their bi-planet brood of kids. Also that year, The Muppets returned to TV prominence with "Muppets Tonight!" (ABC).
Henson first produced and directed for the big screen with "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) and performed similar duties on "Muppets Treasure Island" (1996). Breaking away from Kermit and Miss Piggy, the company produced "Buddy" (1997) about a socialite (Rene Russo) who raises a gorilla as her son.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Visual Effects (Feature Film)
Film Production - Unit (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Producer (Special)
Visual Effects (Special)
Cast (Short)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Writer (TV Mini-Series)
Producer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1981
Began in family business as a puppeteer on "The Great Muppet Caper"
1985
Voiced characters and was puppeteer on the feature "Return to Oz"
1987
Worked as puppeteer on NBC series "The Story Teller"
1989
Was puppeteer on feature "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
1990
Served as executive producer on "Dinosaurs" (ABC), voiced several characters
1990
Named president of Jim Henson Productions after father's death
1990
Directed "Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories" for The Disney Channel; won Daytime Emmy
1992
Produced and directed "The Muppet Christmas Carol," first Muppets film since Jim Henson's death
1996
Was executive producer of NBC miniseries "Gulliver's Travels"; won Emmy
1996
Was executive producer of "Muppets Tonight!" (ABC)
1996
Executive produced ABC series "Aliens in the Family"
1996
Helmed "Muppet Treasure Island"
1999
Produced feature film "Muppets from Space"
1999
Produced Australian sci-fi series "Farscape" (aired on Sci Fi Channel in U.S.)
2005
Executive produced "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" (ABC)
2008
Executive produced and directed animated series "Sid the Science Kid" (PBS Kids)
Family
Companions
