Season 45 Cast Bios

Season 45 Cast Bios
Alison Bartlett (Gina) has been a Sesame Street cast member for 27 years. Bartlett began acting at
the age of 12 when she debuted in John Guare's production of Landscape of the Body, directed by
Gary Sinise. Bartlett's other theatre credits include: the role of “Donna” in the Broadway production
of David Rabe's Hurlyburly directed by Mike Nichols; off-Broadway in Second Stage's production of
Jersey City directed by Risa Bramon in which she starred as “Magaly;” Ubu Repertory Theatre's
Family Portrait directed by Shirley Kaplan and Ensemble Studio Theatre's 2006 marathon in 100
Most Beautiful Names of Todd directed by Jamie Richards.
Bartlett's television credits include many guest leads including Golden Boy, Law & Order: Special
Victims Unit, Mercy, Canterbury's Law, Rescue Me (recurring guest star), Law & Order: Criminal
Intent, The Sopranos (recurring guest star), The Jury, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Queens Supreme and
the ABC after-school special, It's Only Rock & Roll, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Her
film credits include Elmo in Grouchland, the independent films The Innkeepers, Sanctified and the
short films Karaoke directed by Andrew Renzi and Euthanasia with first-time director Adrian Grenier.
A lifelong New Yorker, Bartlett resides in New York City with her three children.
Ismael Cruz Córdova (Mando) is a native of Puerto Rico, and proud to bring his native heritage and
Spanish language to Sesame Street for his second season as “Mando.” Prior to joining Sesame
Street, he was part of the recurring cast of the Golden Globe winning CBS drama, The Good Wife as
"Jimmy Patrick" and acted in several films including In the Blood, White Alligator and Chaser.
Córdova received HOLA and ACE awards for his performance as “Julio Cesar” in the off-Broadway
play, La Luz De un Cigarrillo, by Marco Antonio Rodriguez. Córdova recently originated the role of
"J" in the world premiere of Regina Taylor's play Stop. Reset. off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre
in NYC. Córdova holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Emilio Delgado (Luis) is originally from Calexico, California. He began his professional acting career
in Los Angeles in the award winning KCET bilingual production Cancion de la Raza (Song of My
People) and subsequently came to New York in 1971 when he was cast as “Luis.” He continues in
that role, delighted to play an important part in the positive portrayal of a Latino on television.
Delgado is in awe of the continuing and enthusiastic response from Sesame Street fans for his
portrayal of “Luis.” In his time on the show, he has received numerous awards for his role as the
friendly and hardworking neighbor and loving husband and father.
Over the years, Delgado has also volunteered his talent and free time to important programs such
as Head Start, Project Sunshine, New York’s 52nd Street Project and many others.
In addition to Sesame Street, Delgado continues to perform in a variety of film, television and
theater roles. He can be seen in various episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Special
Victims Unit, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Michael J. Fox Show, reruns of Hawaii 5-0, Lou Grant,
Quincy, and in the recent films, Peeples and A Case of You. His most recent theater credit is playing
“Claudius” in the 2012 Asolo Repertory Theatre production of Hamlet, Prince of Cuba.
In addition to acting, Delgado loves to sing and has packed concert halls across America, from The
Kennedy Center to The Hollywood Bowl, performing “Songs From Sesame Street.” He made his
Carnegie Hall debut with Pink Martini, crooning his favorite Joe Raposo classic, “Sing.” He also
recorded “Sing” for Pink Martini’s hit CD “Splendor in the Grass” and performed with the band as
their special guest at New York’s Town Hall.
Delgado looks forward to another exciting new season on Sesame Street, continuing to teach and
inspire children everywhere, alongside an array of extraordinarily talented colleagues who are like
one big happy family!
Christopher Lawrence Knowings (Chris) was born in the Bronx, New York. At the age of 13, with
the encouragement of one of his teachers, he landed a co-starring role in director Spike Lee’s film,
Crooklyn. After several television appearances, Knowings then helped launch the television career
of his twin sister, Christy, landing her a role on the sketch comedy All That for Nickelodeon. A few
years later, he was cast as Lamar Johnson on the Nickelodeon series Taina, marking the first time
siblings had starred on separate shows for the network. From there, he began appearing in
commercials, radio ads and television shows such as New York Undercover, Law & Order and 100
Centre Street. Knowings was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding Performer in a
Children’s Series category in 2009 and 2010 for his work on Sesame Street. His character “Chris” is
the nephew of Gordon and Susan and works in Hooper’s Store with Alan.
Loretta Long (Susan) has been with Sesame Street since its first season. Before that, she appeared
on the public television program Soul!, and in summer stock productions of Guys and Dolls, Milk and
Honey and Sweet Charity. She is a distinguished former schoolteacher with a doctoral degree from
the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Long is a published author, visiting scholar and educational
consultant. She plays “Susan,” Gordon’s wife and Miles’ mother. Over the years, her character has
evolved from housewife to nurse to working mother.
Sonia Manzano (Maria) is a first generation Puerto Rican who has touched the lives of millions of
parents and children as "Maria" on Sesame Street.
Manzano was raised in the South Bronx where her involvement in the arts was inspired by teachers
who encouraged her to audition for the High School of Performing Arts, where she began her
career as an actress. She came to New York from Carnegie Mellon University to star in the original
production of the off-Broadway show Godspell. Manzano joined Sesame Street in 1971 and holds 15
Emmy Awards for her previous work as part of the Sesame Street writing staff.
Manzano has performed on the New York stage in The Vagina Monologues, The Exonerated and
Love, Loss and What I Wore. She has written for the Peabody Award-winning children's series, Little
Bill, and her children's book, No Dogs Allowed, published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
in 2004, was selected by the General Mills initiative Spoonfuls of Stories. Her second book, A Box
Full of Kittens, was published in 2007. Manzano’s first young adult novel The Revolution of Evelyn
Serrano, published by Scholastic in 2012, was chosen as a Pura Belpre Honor Book. Her memoir will
be published in September 2015.
Manzano received the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Award in Washington, DC and the Hispanic
Heritage Award for Education in 2003. She is proud to have been inducted into the Bronx Hall of
Fame in 2004. She received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Notre Dame University in 2005.
She was voted one of the most influential Hispanics by People Magazine en Español (February
2007) and Ballet Hispanico awarded her their Inspiration Award in April 2011. She received the
New York Women in Film and Television Muse award for outstanding vision and achievement in
December 2013. Manzano was twice nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Performer in a
Children's Series.
She has served on the March of Dimes board, the board of the George Foster Peabody Awards and
the board of Symphony Space, a New York City theatrical institution. Manzano also volunteers for
Learning Leaders, a non-profit organization which provides one-on-one and small group
instructional support, and The Bronx River Alliance, an organization dedicated to cleaning up the
Bronx River in the South Bronx.
Bob McGrath (Bob) is an original cast member and is in his 45th year as the resident music teacher
on Sesame Street. As an accomplished singer with eight children’s albums and a recording
company to his credit, McGrath’s work has received glowing reviews from Family Choice Awards,
Creative Child Magazine CD of the Year, School Library Journal, Midwest Book Review, Kidzmusic,
and Family Man Online.
As an advocate for children, McGrath was honored for 40 years of service by the Variety Children's
Charity Telethon in British Columbia, and by Saskatchewan’s Premier Brad Wall with
the Distinguished Service Award. He participated in his second Wounded Warrior's Tribute in
Alberta, Ca. in August 2014.
McGrath has narrated ebooks and apps for Sesame Street, and has authored eight books of his
own including Uh Oh! Gotta Go! (a best seller on potty training) and Oops! Excuse Me Please! (on
manners). He has performed and recorded with Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, the Robert
Shaw Chorale, Fred Waring and Pablo Casals. McGrath was the featured male soloist in NBC’s Sing
Along With Mitch for four years, and was a Japanese teen sensation known as "Bobu Magulas,”
recording nine LP’s and 15 singles in both English and Japanese. He was featured on The Tonight
Show, What’s My Line and To Tell the Truth.
Over the past 7 years, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has
invited McGrath to present motivational keynote addresses and workshops for thousands of early
childhood educators.
McGrath received his Bachelor’s in Music from the University of Michigan, and a Master’s in Music
from the Manhattan School of Music. In 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from his
alma mater U of M, and in 2013 he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of Manhattan School
of Music.
He now has five children and eight grandchildren, and will celebrate his 56th wedding anniversary
with his wife, Ann. Visit him at www.bobmcgrath.com.
Alan Muraoka (Alan) joined the Sesame Street ensemble 17 years ago. His stage credits include the
Broadway productions of Pacific Overtures, The King and I, My Favorite Year, Shogun, Mail and Miss
Saigon, where he played the lead role of the “Engineer,” as well as the national tours of Miss
Saigon, M. Butterfly and Anything Goes. Muraoka’s numerous network television and film credits
include: It Could Happen to You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Louie, Showtime's Brotherhood, The
Tonight Show, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, One Life to Live and Day of Independence, a short
film by Academy Award-winning director Chris Tashima. He has performed with the Boston Pops,
with Pink Martini at the Hollywood Bowl, and with the Sesame Street cast and the New York Pops at
Carnegie Hall.
As a director, his 1998 production of Falsettoland for the National Asian American Theatre Company
received high praise from The New York Times, and was revived in 2007 for the first ever National
Asian American Theater Festival in New York City. He directed a short film for Sesame Street called
"Field Trip Stories: A Kid's Yoga Class," and has choreographed for Sesame Street in the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade. Other directing credits include Once on This Island (Olney Theatre),
American Songbook-Ann Harada (Lincoln Center), Kung Fu (Assistant Director-Signature Theatre),
The King and I (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma & Harbor Lights Theatre), Awesomer & Awesomer!!! The
Songs of Phoebe Kreutz (Triad Theatre- NYC), Telly Leung: Playlist (54 Below), Xanadu (Lyric Theatre
of Oklahoma – Oklahoma City), Telly Leung: Who Loves Ya Baby? (Laurie Beechman Theatre),
Disney's High School Musical (Casa Mañana – Ft. Worth, MUNY – St. Louis, and the Lyric Theatre of
Oklahoma), Disney's High School Musical 2 (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma), Up In The Air (Associate
Director, The Kennedy Center), John Tartaglia's Ad-Liberty at Joe's Pub, Christmas Eve With
Christmas Eve (BC/EFA); Empty-Handed (Musicals Tonight), Karaoke Stories (Imua! Theatre
Company), Screaming Like a Fool (Triad Theatre) and A Tribute to Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall
(Triad Theatre). He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and the Lincoln
Center Directors Lab.
A UCLA graduate, Muraoka received a musical theater performance scholarship underwritten by
Carol Burnett. He is an active member of Asian American organizations and was honored with the
Inspiration Award from APEX, a mentoring organization in New York City, and the Role Model of the
Year award from the FCC (Families with Children From China). His character on Sesame Street is the
proprietor of Hooper's Store. Muraoka, an Asian-American of Japanese descent, is not only an
important part of Sesame Street’s representation of diversity, but his warm and open character has
helped make Hooper's Store the heart of the Sesame Street community. Visit his website at:
http://alanmuraokanet.ipower.com.
Roscoe Orman (Gordon) is an award-winning actor whose credits extend to television, stage and
screen. He studied at New York's Circle-In-The-Square Theatre School and Manhattan School of
Music. He made his acting debut with the Next Stage Theatre Company's 1962 production of If We
Grow Up. He toured for two years with the Free Southern Theater of New Orleans and was an
original member of Harlem's New Lafayette Theatre Company, where he performed in and
directed many plays, including Whose Got His Own, The Duplex and The Fabulous Miss Marie.
Orman has worked extensively on the New York stage with the Negro Ensemble Company, New
York Shakespeare Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Federal Theatre, and American Place
Theatre where in 1993 he enjoyed critical success in the title role of The Confessions of Stepin Fetchit.
He appeared as “Gabriel” in the 1988 Broadway production of Fences, starred in Driving Miss Daisy
at both the Delaware Theatre Company and Pennsylvania's Fulton Playhouse and recently starred
in Jitney at Baltimore's Murphy Fine Arts Center. In the spring of 2014 he co-starred opposite Tonya
Pinkins in the New Federal Theatre’s revival of The Fabulous Miss Marie.
Orman's film credits include the title role in Willie Dynamite, F/X, Striking Distance, New Jersey Drive,
Drive-By, Thirty Days, Twilight's Last Gleaming, Coney Island, Compliments of the Serpent and the
2011 family film Jeremy Fink and The Meaning of Life. On television, he has been seen on such
shows as Sanford and Son, Kojak, All My Children, Law & Order, SVU, Sex and the City, Cosby, The
Wire and Alpha House. He has also narrated the TV documentaries Langston Hughes: The
DreamKeeper and Look I'm in College for PBS, Children's Health and Heritage of The Black West on
Discovery Channel, U.S. Presidents on The History Channel and Images in Black and White for ESPN.
He has authored two books, Sesame Street Dad: Evolution of An Actor and Ricky & Mobo, a
children's book he also illustrated. In 2008, he was named Chief Storyteller and National
Spokesperson for Audible Kids. This season of Sesame Street marks Orman's 40th year as Gordon,
a science teacher who is married to Susan and the father of Miles.
Nitya Vidyasagar (Leela) returns to Sesame Street for her seventh season. Originally from India,
she received her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she trained at the Stella Adler
Studio of Acting. Credits include Smash, The Good Wife, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Split Ends,
Sita Sings the Blues, Modern Terrorism or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them
(Second Stage Theatre), The Glorious Ones (Lincoln Center Theater), Serendib (Ensemble Studio
Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Love's Labor's Lost
(Shakespeare Theatre Company), Coney Island Avenue (NYTW) and Monetizing Emma (NYC Fringe).
As the first Indian-American character on the show, Vidyasagar brings her vibrant culture and
heritage to the neighborhood of Sesame Street.