Ryan Dillon (born May 28, 1988) is an American puppeteer who has played Elmo since 2013 replacing Kevin Clash. Dillon had previously worked as an ensemble muppeteer for the Jim Henson Company since 2005. Dillon also played Cooper Monster for the interactive series Sesame Street TV for Xbox Kinect, and appears on all 4 seasons of the new CBeebies and Sesame Street co-production, The Furchester Hotel, as Elmo.In 2017, Dillon was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.