The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) today announced the presenters, host and performer for the 4th Annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards (CAFE), taking place on Monday, March 2, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City. Now in its fourth year and presented in New York for the first time, this standalone competition spotlights the pinnacle of creativity and innovation in children’s entertainment.The ceremonies will also be streamed live on watch.theemmys.tv and through The Emmys® apps (apps.theemmys.tv).
Hosting the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards will be John Tartaglia, a multi-award-winning actor, director, writer, puppeteer, producer, and creator for television and theater.
Award-winning actor, Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to previously announced honoree, Emmy® Award-winning television presenter and science educator, Bill Nye, at the CAFE Honors Ceremony on March 1.
Presenters at CAFE include Rachel and Aron Accurso (Ms. Rachel), Jennifer Barnhart and “Zoe” (Sesame Street), Monique Coleman (High School Musical), Frankie Cordero and “Purple Panda” (Donkey Hodie), Stephanie d’Abruzzo and “Duck Duck” (Donkey Hodie), Ava Joyce McCarthy (The Primrose Railway Children), Bill Nye (Lifetime Achievement Honoree), Tori Prentice and Adrianna Walker (Harlem Ice), Chanel Stewart (Win or Lose), June Squibb (Storyline Online) and Kari Wahlgren (Legends of Evergreen Hills). Tartaglia, d’Abruzzo, and Barnhart will present together, marking a reunion of these puppeteers from the original Broadway cast of “Avenue Q.” Critically-acclaimed singer Regina Spektor will perform and Alyssa Tucker (Live From Snacktime) is the special red carpet correspondent.
About John Tartaglia
John Tartaglia is a multi-award-winning actor, director, writer, puppeteer, producer, and creator for television and theater. He is currently the creative supervisor & director of the “Fraggle Rock” franchise for the Jim Henson Company, which includes the Emmy Award-winning series “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” (streaming on Apple TV), for which he serves as an executive producer, writer and puppet captain. He also performs the roles of Gobo Fraggle, Architect Doozer, Gunge, Barry Blueberry and Sprocket the Dog. In addition to his work on “Fraggle Rock,” he maintains an overall creative development deal at the Jim Henson Company, developing and producing new television and live experience and theatrical projects. John hosts “Sunday Funday with John Tartaglia, a 6 hour broadcast for Sirius XM’s On Broadway channel every week.
Broadway theater audiences know John best for his acclaimed starring performance as Princeton and Rod in “Avenue Q,” for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won a Theater World Award and Clarence Derwent Award. His other Broadway credits include “Beauty and the Beast” (Lumiere) and the original cast of “Shrek the Musical” (Pinocchio and the Magic Mirror). Off-Broadway, he created, wrote and voiced several characters in John Tartaglia’s “ImaginOcean,” which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and went on to have a hit international tour.
John has voiced hundreds of puppets and animated characters over the past 25 years, including for many seasons of “Sesame Street,” where he got his first job and made history as the show’s youngest regular puppeteer at age 16. John was also the creator, executive producer and star of the Disney Junior series “Johnny and the Sprites,” which received Emmy Award nominations for his performance and for the show, and PBS’ “Splash and Bubbles” (based on his theatrical piece “ImaginOcean”), which also received multiple Emmy nominations. His countless other television acting, voice and puppeteering credits include “Ugly Betty,” “Bear in the Big Blue House,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” “Animal Jam,” “Blues Room,” “Sesame English” and “JoJo’s Circus.” He also voiced Mr. Bluelight for Kmart and Extreme the Goldfish for Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish Crackers campaigns.
Among John’s many theatrical directing credits across the country are Stephen Schwartz’s “The Secret Silk” and Jim Henson’s “Inspired Silliness” (both for Princess Cruises), “Kinky Boots” (3D Theatricals), Jim Henson’s “Musical World” (Carnegie Hall), “Beauty and the Beast” (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), “Shrek the Halls” (DreamWorks Theatricals), “Because of Winn-Dixie” (Arkansas Rep; Goodspeed Opera House development) and several productions at The Muny in St. Louis, including “Shrek the Musical,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Tarzan,” “Annie,” “Matilda,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s “Mary Poppins.” He directed national tours of “Blue’s Clues Live!,” Jim Henson’s “Dinosaur Train Live” and Jim Henson’s “Sid the Science Kid Live,” as well as multiple shows for Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. John also directed and wrote the book for the Olivier Award-winning “Blippi Live!”
The 4th Annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards will be available to stream live via watch.theemmys.tv and via The Emmys® apps for iOS, tvOS, Android, FireTV, and Roku (full list at apps.theemmys.tv).
For a full list of nominees, visit https://theemmys.tv/childrens/. All voting was tabulated by the accounting firm of Lutz & Carr, LLP.
About the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is a service organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy® Awards for News & Documentary, Sports, Daytime and Children’s & Family programming, as well as achievements in television Technology & Engineering.
NATAS membership is made up of National members joined by more than 18,000+ broadcast and media professionals represented in 19 regional chapters across the country. Beyond awards, NATAS has extensive educational programs including its National Student Production Awards for outstanding journalistic work by high school students, as well as scholarships for aspiring filmmakers and broadcasters.
For more information, please visit the website at http://www.theemmys.tv/
