Bill Irwin in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
BILL IRWIN (Lou Lou Who) is known to a lot of people as a lot of things: actor, dancer, performance artist, vaudeville clown, producer, writer, director, choreographer and to young children as Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street. For the most part he defies categorization though is one of the most respected performers in all of entertainment.
Irwin was an original member of Kraken, a theatre company directed by Herbert Blau and was an original member of the Pickle family Circus of San Francisco. He appeared as a guest with the ODC Dance Company of San Francisco, which first produced his original work. His own off-Broadway pieces include Not Quite/New York, The Courtroom and The Regard of Flight (also seen on PBS' Great Performances).
On Broadway, Irwin's Largely New York received five Tony Award nomination and won Drama desk, Outer Critic Circle, New York Dance and Performance Award. Bill along with David Shiner starred and choreographed the hit Fool Moon (which won a special Tony award in 1999). Irwin also appeared with Steve Martin, Robin Williams and F. Murray in Waiting For Godot at Lincoln Center and Texts For Nothing at the Classic Stage Company and in George Wolfe's park production of The Tempest. Other Broadway productions include Accidental Death of an Anarchrist and 5-6-7-8 Dance. More recently he starred in his adaptation of the play Scapin at The Roundabout Theatre in New York City and directed A Flea In Her Ear at the Roundabout.
His feature films include John Tuturro's Illuminata, Just The Ticket with Andy Garcia, A Midsummer's Night Dream with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline, My Blue Heaven with Steve Martin, Scenes From a Mall, Popeye, A New Life, Eight Men Out, Stepping Out, Hot Shots and Silent Tongue.
Irwin has appeared on a variety of television shows including the closing ceremony of the 1992 summer Olympics in which he appeared with the Cadets of Bergen County. He did multiple appearances on Northern Exposure, The Cosby Show, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, HBO's Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo, The David Letterman Show, Third Rock From The Sun and as a regular on Sesame Street.
In 1983 Irwin was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship and in 1983 was named a Guggenheim fellow and was awarded a five year MacArthur Fellowship.
Movie Database
In Theaters
(15 votes)
(5 votes)
(249 votes)
(148 votes)
(77 votes)