Frankie Cordero (Rudy)
Frankie Cordero’s mother and magician/clown father supported his early love of theater, VHS filmmaking, and a lifelong dream to work with the Muppets™ one day.
Frankie Cordero is a three-time Emmy-nominated puppeteer, director, and puppet designer and builder best known for performing Rudy on Sesame Street and Purple Panda on PBS KIDS’ Donkey Hodie.
While growing up in Chicago, Frankie’s parents supported his early love of theater, VHS filmmaking, and his lifelong dream of working on Sesame Street one day. He graduated from the University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts Program, where he was a two-time recipient of the Jim Henson Memorial Prize in Puppetry.
Frankie began performing for Sesame Workshop in 2000 while in college, and joined the Sesame Street cast in Season 47 as Rudy, Abby Cadabby’s younger stepbrother. He has also built puppets for Sesame Street at the Jim Henson Creature Shop and trained puppeteers for Sesame Street’s international co-productions. More recently, he was selected for Sesame Workshop’s inaugural Directors’ Program.
On Donkey Hodie, produced by Chicago-based Spiffy Pictures and Fred Rogers Productions, Cordero serves as a director, storyboard artist, and performer. He’s thrilled to play various characters including Purple Panda, Turtle Lou The Speedy Delivery Turtle, Penguin Referee and Gregory the Elephant.
Frankie’s other roles include Wembley (Fraggle Rock: Rock On!), Duo The Owl (Duolingo ABC), Ron (DillonGale) Spike (Julie’s Greenroom with Julie Andrews), Papu (Oobi), Frankie (Frankie and Frank) and various characters on Jack’s Big Music Show, and Nature Cat. Additional credits include The Muppet Show (2026), CSI Las Vegas, The Tonight Show, The Today Show, Last Week Tonight, The Tick and It’s a Big, Big World.
Cordero has performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and The Metropolitan Opera, where was one of three principal puppeteers portraying the title character’s 3-year old son, “Sorrow” in Madama Butterfly. His stage work also includes national and international tours with Phantom Limb Company, Blair Thomas & Co., and Walking With Dinosaurs- The Arena Spectacular.
During the off-season, Cordero is involved as an instructor for Chicago Public School Enrichment programs, teaches television puppetry at local theaters, and produces his own puppetry work. He currently sits on the Advisory Board for The Chordoma Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals affected by Chordoma, a rare bone cancer, by accelerating research to find a cure. He lives in Oak Park, IL with his wife, his two daughters and two cats.
