Don Austen

Who is Don Austen?

English puppeteer Don Austen joined the Jim Henson Creature Shop in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth. He was a puppeteer for other blockbuster movies including Santa Claus: The Movie, The Little Shop of Horrors, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Bear, The Witches, and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Most notably he performed in The Muppet Christmas Carol, inside both the Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He also managed briefly to boost numbers in Muppet Treasure Island as Pirate Crew & Cannibals.

Austen's British TV debut was on the irreverent cult ITV puppet show Spitting Image.

Austen voiced and puppeteered Sky One's DJ Kat for more than 2000 award-winning DJ Kat Shows and 200 breakfast shows as Earl E Bird on Channel 4's Early Bird.

Austen voiced/puppeteered feline gang leader Danny Mogg in comedy drama series The Wild Bunch. This TF1/Channel 4 co-production, recorded at AB Studios Paris, was a vehicle for French TV star Dorothee.

During the LIVE ITV Saturday morning show What's Up Doc? Austen teamed up with John Eccleston to write and puppeteer a run of British TV favourites. Firstly, The Wolves, aka Bro & Bro, and within weeks earn their own spin-off comedy drama Wolf It! for four seasons.