Credits for Russ Walko range from children’s entertainment to horror. He has puppeteered for Commercials, Television, Movies and Theatre. As a skilled manipulator he does his fair share of lip sync but he prefers to use his own voice to fully bring a character to life. Russ is often seen wearing multiple hats for puppet productions; puppeteer, puppet captain, wrangler and puppet builder. Contact Russ Walko if you need assistance in any capacity with a puppet project. To find out more about what Russ can create visit Puppet Garage.
Yo Gabba Gabbaland
Russ built two new characters for the series.
Fraggle Rock
Russ puppeteered and wrangled for several Uncle Traveling Matt segments for season 1 and 2 of Fraggle Rock Back to the Rock, which included traveling to Mexico City and Seoul.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Shot in New Orleans, Russ is the puppeteer that brought Foxy to life. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop created the animatronics.
Slumberkins
A Jim Henson Company production on Apple TV that focuses on emotional wellness where Russ performs Fox, one of the main characters. He was also the puppet caption for the series.
The Weirdos
Russ puppeteered on the Coldplay music video Biutyful that featured a puppet alien band called the Weirdos. Russ is the puppeteer for Bruce their band manager. He traveled to various concert venues to perform on stage with Coldpay, including Paris, London and Buenos Aries and also made an appearance on the Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon.
Waffles + Mochi
Russ circumnavigated the world manipulating the title character Mochi. Because half the show is documentary style, as puppet captain, Russ’ responsibilities include figuring out puppet logistics on the fly.
Mystery Science Theatre 3000
Russ is the voice of Growler, one of the two new bots introduced in season 11 “The Return.” He built puppets and props for multiple seasons and live tours and is still puppeteering for the show. Russ is responsible for most of the puppeteering of Tom Servo.
Come Play
Russ spent nearly two months in Toronto representing Jim Henson’t Creature shop. He was the puppet captain, lead puppeteer and helped build Larry, the creature for the film.
ERAX
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop created the puppets. As the puppet captain he worked closely with the director to explore the puppet possibilities at the same time performing the main ERAX, One Eye.
The Muppets
Russ often works with the Muppets. He was a full time Wrangler on the Disney Plus series The Muppet Mayhem. He was nominated for an Emmy for his work on that show.
The Dark Crystal
Early on, Russ was called to the Creature Shop to help figure out how to recreate the Skesis, Gelflings, and Podlings. He was also given free rein to create several critters that inhabit the world. He also puppeteered on the test that got the project green lite.
The Happytime Murders
Russ built the main puppet, Phil. He also wrangled and puppeteered on the movie. He was involved at the beginnings of the project with various test shoots and early prototypes of Phil.
Kidding
Russ Voices and manipulates PB, a sandwich puppet.
The Barbarian and the Troll
Russ worked from his own shop during the 2020 lock down. He created over 2 dozen puppets for the show.
Community
Russ helped build the puppets for a puppet episode in which he performs the Jeff Winger puppet.
Pee-Wee Herman Live
Russ was in Conky for the entire run of Pee-Wee Herman live in Los Angeles. He also built two version of Pterri for the show, a hand puppet and a marionette.
The Simpsons
Russ puppeteers Grandpa and built him and the Jasper puppet. For the initial proof of concept he built the Bart puppet that they used for the episode. He also performs Lisa.
