Peter Linz is an American puppeteer working with the Muppets and Sesame Street since the early 1990s, best known for Walter and for performing Ernie since 2017.
He is here because he is current
Most entries in this section describe careers that are finished. Linz is a working performer in the middle of one, which matters for anyone wondering whether this is a real profession or only a piece of history. It is a job people hold today.
Walter
was created for the 2011 film The Muppets and is unusual among MuppetA Muppet is a puppet built in the soft foam-and-fleece style... characters in being conceived as a fan — a character whose whole motivation is loving the Muppets. Linz performed him from the beginning, which is rarer than it sounds; most performers inherit characters rather than originate them.
Taking on Ernie
He assumed one of the most recognisable characters in television from a lineage running back to Jim HensonJim Henson (1936–1990) was the puppeteer and filmmaker who... More himself. The technical demand of that kind of succession is precise: matching an established voice and an established physical rhythm closely enough that a child does not notice a change.
The range
Alongside principal roles he has spent decades on assistant and right-hand work, background characters and puppet captaining. That is the actual shape of a puppetry career — the visible roles rest on years of work nobody credits.
For anyone building toward this as a profession
, Linz’s path is the realistic one: start as an additional performer, be reliable, take the small parts, and let the characters come.