Matt Vogel became Big Bird’s full-time performer after Caroll Spinney retired in 2018. Vogel had already been closely connected to the character, first serving as an understudy and later taking over much of the puppetry before becoming the primary performer.
Spinney performed Big Bird from Sesame Street’s 1969 debut and also played Oscar the Grouch. In his later years, health problems, including dystonia, meant that Vogel increasingly operated the Big Bird costume. Spinney continued supplying the voice for some performances during the transition.
Spinney announced his official retirement from Big Bird and Oscar on October 17, 2018. Vogel’s succession was therefore not a sudden entry by an unrelated performer; it completed a gradual handoff that had developed over years of ensemble work and apprenticeship.
Vogel is also known for several other Muppet roles. He has performed Count von Count since 2013 and became Kermit the Frog’s performer in 2017. The other options are Sesame Street or Muppet performers, but none is the full-time successor to Spinney as Big Bird.