Meet TJ, ‘Sesame Street’s first Filipino muppet

SESAME Street now has its first Filipino muppet, TJ, created by Filipino American animator Bobby Pontillas in collaboration with puppeteer Louis Mitchell.

TJ, which was inspired by Max and Mateo, the children of Pontillas’ lifelong friends. TJ is played by voice actor and puppeteer Yinan Shentu.

In a recent segment, TJ discusses the word of the day, “confidence,” with fellow muppets Ji-Young and Grover, and actor Kal Penn, who explains, “Confidence is when you believe in yourself and your abilities, or in the abilities of others.”

TJ talks about his growing confidence while learning Tagalog, the basis for the Philippines’ national language: “I’m confident because I can always ask my lola [grandmother] for help when I don’t know a word.”

Rosemary Espina Palacios, Sesame Workshop’s director of talent outreach, inclusion and content development, also posted on Instagram that TJ’s arrival came “just in time for API Heritage Month to show the range in our diaspora.”

She added that she personally felt the topic of confidence could help “unravel the model minority stereotype,” a persistent myth that Asian Americans are monolithically successful, which ignores disparities among Asian ethnic groups and minimizes the role racism plays in the struggles of other minority groups. n