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Jim Henson was born at King’s Daughters Hospital in Greenville, Mississippi, on September 24, 1936, the second son of Paul and Betty Henson. Jim spent his early years in Leland, where his father had an assignment with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He remembered spending countless happy hours, alone and with friends, exploring the shorelines of Deer Creek, not far from his parents’ house. Throughout his childhood,Jim Henson had an interest in both art and television. Young Jim was particularly close to his maternal grandmother and visited her often at the family home in Maryland. As an avid painter, quilter, and needleworker, she was supportive of his artistic efforts and encouraged him to use his imagination and to take delight in the world around him.

When Jim was in the fifth grade, the Hensons returned to Maryland where Jim, often with his older brother Paul, experimented with a variety of artistic techniques. In 1954, while still in high school, he began his television career performing puppets on a local Washington, DC Saturday morning program on WTOP-TV. The following year, as a freshman at the University of Maryland, he was given his own twice-daily, five-minute show, Sam and Friends, on the local NBC affiliate, WRC-TV. Jim's first performing partner was Jane Nebel, whom he met at the University, and who later became his wife. Sam and Friends introduced many Muppet mainstays music, snarky humor, and technical tricks. The show also introduced the most famous Muppet of all Kermit who was not yet a frog.

The success of Sam and Friends led to guest appearances on such national network programs as The Steve Allen Show, The Jack Paar Show, and The Today Show. At the same time, Jim began making hundreds of humorous commercials for sponsors throughout the country. In 1961, as Muppets, Inc. grew, Jim and Jane brought on puppeteer and writer Jerry Juhl, who would become one of Jim's major collaborators. The demands of national television appearances brought Jim and his family to New York in 1963.

With weekly appearances on The Today Show and an ever-growing list of commercial clients, Jim sought out the talents of master puppet builder, Don Sahlin, and young puppeteer, Frank Oz. They worked together to develop the Muppets' first nationally-known character, Rowlf, who appeared regularly on The Jimmy Dean Show from 1963 to 1966. Having established a group of talented collaborators, Jim Henson was able to pursue his career in puppetry and develop his strong interest in filmmaking.

Between 1964 and 1969, Jim produced several experimental films including the award-winning Time Piece, Youth '68, and The Cube. These projects expanded Jim's knowledge of various film techniques, leading to greater innovations with the Muppets. In the mid-1960s, Joan Ganz Cooney, a public television producer, began work on Sesame Street, an educational children's show that would premiere in 1969. Based on Jim's success in creating short, funny puppet pieces, Cooney asked him to create a family of characters to populate Sesame Street. These included Ernie and Bert, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Cookie Monster, and of course the 8-foot-2-inch Big Bird.
Working with Children's Television Workshop on Sesame Street also gave Jim Henson the opportunity to continue his experiments with film techniques. With his talented team, Jim produced over two dozen live action and animated shorts to teach counting and other concepts. Sesame Street illustrated the Muppets' appeal to children, but Jim's goal remained to entertain a wider, family audience. After years of promoting the idea for The Muppet Show, Jim finally received backing from London-based television producer, Lord Lew Grade. Production began in 1975 at Grade's ATV Studios. There, such unforgettable characters as Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear, performed by Frank Oz; Gonzo the Great, performed by Dave Goelz; Scooter, performed by Richard Hunt; Lew Zealand, performed by Jerry Nelson; and Rizzo the Rat, performed by Steve Whitmire, were born.