puppeteer
Puppeteers perform shows by manipulating puppets such as hand puppets or marionettes. Their performance is based on a script and the movements of the puppets have to be synchronised with the speech and music. Puppeteers may write their own scripts and design and create their own puppets.
puppeteer puppeteers perform shows by manipulating puppets such as hand puppets or marionettes. Their performance is based on a script and the movements of the puppets have to be synchronised with the speech and music. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include perform live, manage feedback, follow time cues, study roles from scripts, manipulate puppets.
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only puppeteer, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Fine Arts
- English Language
- Communications and Media
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Psychology
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- Education and Training
What you'd actually do
- Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.
- Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.
- Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.
- Perform humorous and serious interpretations of emotions, actions, and situations, using body movements, facial expressions, and gestures.
- Study and rehearse roles from scripts to interpret, learn and memorize lines, stunts, and cues as directed.
- Learn about characters in scripts and their relationships to each other to develop role interpretations.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does puppeteer do?
Puppeteers perform shows by manipulating puppets such as hand puppets or marionettes. Their performance is based on a script and the movements of the puppets have to be synchronised with the speech and music. Puppeteers may write their own scripts and design and create their own puppets.
What skills does puppeteer need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include perform live, manage feedback, follow time cues, study roles from scripts, manipulate puppets, attend rehearsals. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace puppeteer?
Our AI-durability model gives puppeteer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.