Sesame Street Introduces First Filipino Muppet

A Filipino muppet made a debut on Sesame Street

American show Sesame Street introduced its first Filipino muppet named TJ on a segment with Kal Penn and his friend Korean American muppet Ji-Young.

TJ is a 4-year-old and a second-generation Filipino American, a Sesame Workshop spokesperson shared, based on the report from CNN. The Filipino muppet is described as someone who enjoys entertaining his little sister.

TJ also loves gardening with his grandparents, as well as spending time with his other family members when they visit from California.

sesame street filipino muppet tj — 📷: CNN

In that episode of Sesame Street, Kal, together with Ji-Young, who was introduced in 2021, was talking about the word of the day confidence. TJ shared his own experience connected to “confidence.”

“I’m learning Tagalog. It’s a language my Filipino family speaks and I have confidence because I can always ask my lola for help when I don’t know a word,” the Filipino muppet said.

The voice behind TJ is by puppeteer and performer Yinan Shentu. He was created by Filipino American animator Bobby Pontillas and he collaborated with Louis Mitchell, Sesame Workshop’s creative director of character design.

Pontillas shared in an Instagram post that he based the face of TJ on the face of two of his friends’ children.

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A post shared by Bobby Pontillas 🇵🇭🇺🇸 (@bobbypontillas)

Sesame Workshop’s director of talent outreach Rosemary Espina Palacios shared on social media that she’s happy to welcome TJ in the Sesame Street family. “I’m so proud to help bring some Filipino representation to the neighborhood, and just in time for API Heritage Month to show the range in our diaspora,” she wrote in the caption of her Instagram post.