Rob Mills

Robert Mills is the founder of three innovative production companies which specialize in the creation of film, television and new media entertainment for young, family and adult audiences. The first of these companies was the acclaimed Sheep Shop, providing puppet design, construction and performance services to the industry. At the end of 17 years of extraordinary work the Sheep Shop officially closed its operations in 2002. After studying film and working in the theatre, Rob's career took him to television where he worked for over twelve years as a puppeteer with Jim Henson's Muppets. Radical Sheep Productions was founded in 1985 and Mills worked on the development and production of series television, feature films and interactive multi-media. Under the Radical Sheep banner Mills has produced over 70 hours of high quality, award-winning programming for young audiences. In 2002 Rob formed a new company, Hunky Dorey Entertainment, for the development and production of feature films and online entertainment for older audiences. Rob also acted as Executive Producer on the first season of the adult comedy series Puppets Who Kill, for which he also directed two episodes. In 2005 Rob was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to Exec. Produce their morning and weekend children's programming called Kids' CBC - over 35 hours of acquired and original content every week. During his time at Canada's national public broadcaster (and with a monumental amount of help from his Kids CBC team) Rob oversaw the revamping of the entire block of programming to include Hosts representing all the regions across the country; in-house production of original content was increased; and subsequent & significant rise in viewership was delivered. After these initial goals were achieved, Rob stepped down from the CBC in the summer of 2006 to pursue his online ventures. Rob's first role with Jim Henson's Muppets was as "Junior Gorg" (and other characters) in the award winning Fraggle Rock. Mills was inside the Junior costume while the late Richard Hunt provided the voice and puppeteered the animatronic features of the character. Mills has also appeared as a variety of characters in numerous Henson feature film and television productions, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II; Labyrinth; Short Circuit II; and Dinosaurs. In addition to puppeteering in the Canadian version of Sesame Street Rob was also a writer and story consultant for the show. His early work in theatre included studies in corporeal movement with L'Ecole de Mime Corporeal du Quatre Sous of Montreal; mask, mime, clown training and performing with The Mime School Unlimited; commedia dell arté studies with Mimo Theatro Movimento of Rome; Czechoslovakian glove puppetry with Nikki Tilroe of Frog Print Theatre; and clown studies with Richard Pochinko. In 1978, after a brief but lucrative career performing on the street, Rob Mills co-founded The Mime Associates, a mask, mime and clown performance collective whose work eventually lead him from theatre to television and beyond. In addition to his work in the television & film industry Mills shared his performance and production skills through a series of private mentorships and workshops conducted under the auspices of the Sheep Shop. Rob resides in Toronto with his wife, Karen, and his son, Henry.