Allan Trautman was born in Brooklyn, New York, and relocated to Miami Beach with his family at the beginning of his 9th grade. He began his acting career in Miami Beach Senior High under the direction of renowned drama teacher Jay Jensen. He then spent four years in St. Louis at Washington University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Drama.
Trautman later earned a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts, where he met his wife, Diane. While in St. Louis, he started his puppetry career working on The Letter People at public TV station KETC. He performed in all 60 15-minute episodes, each one shot on a Friday, which he skipped classes for.
Two years after graduating from CalArts, Trautman worked full-time at Leo's Stereo in the San Fernando Valley, when a friend told him about an audition notice for a "puppet school" sponsored by Sid and Marty Krofft. He spent the summer of 1980 at a series of workshops under the direction of Tony Urbano, where he met other young puppeteers who became lifelong friends, including Bruce Lanoil, Kevin Carlson, Tim Blaney, and others.
Much of the 1980s were spent working on projects for the Kroffts and for Dave Pavelonis and his Peppercorn Productions, as well as pursuing his acting career. During this time, he was sent on an audition for Return of the Living Dead and was cast as the Tarman, who became an iconic zombie film character, asking for "Brains!" in one of the first instances.
In 1990, as part of the pending purchase of The Muppets by the Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson came to Los Angeles to direct Muppetvision 3-D, an attraction for Disney's theme parks. Trautman was introduced to the Muppets and began his career with The Jim Henson Company.
In 1991, Trautman joined the cast of the ABC-TV series Dinosaurs as the animatronic puppeteer for Fran Sinclair. The show remained in production for 65 episodes until the end of 1993, introducing Trautman to sophisticated animatronics. This experience continued with movies like Babe, Men in Black, Doctor Dolittle, Jack Frost, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Monkeybone, Cats and Dogs, Men in Black II, and The Country Bears.
After Dinosaurs, two producers on that show requested his presence on their next show, Unhappily Ever After, a sitcom on the brand-new WB Network. Trautman puppeteered Mr. Floppy, the lead character's wise-cracking (imaginary) talking bunny, voiced in front of a live audience by Bobcat Goldthwaite.
Trautman's work with The Muppets included videos such as It's Not Easy Being Green and Muppet Classic Theatre, the movie Muppets from Space, and TV shows like Muppets Tonight, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.
In the summer of 2005, Trautman became a founding member of Puppet Up!-Uncensored, Henson Alternative's puppet/improv show. He performed in the show off-Broadway, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, on tour throughout the U.S., and on the historic Chaplin Stage on The Jim Henson Company lot.
