Kamela Portuges

Kamela Portuges (1963 – October 21, 2021), also known as Kamela Portuges-Robbins, was an American puppeteer, puppet designer, sculptor, animator, illustrator, writer, and director. Her work can be seen in many films including Being John Malkovich, James and the Giant Peach, Monkeybone, and Bicentennial Man. She started her career in puppetry in 1989 and was the co-founder of production company Images In Motion.

Portuges also had a passion for children's books and wrote and illustrated and was a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators since 2018 and was the North Bay Regional Illustrator Coordinator for it.

Portuges also was a guest lecture at University of California Santa Cruz in the Theatre department from 2017 until 2021.

Kamela met Kieron Robbins in 2002 at a Santa Rosa Junior College art class and soon he was also working at Images In Motion. They later got married in 2008 and were together until her death in 2021.

Portuges attended Humboldt State University where she received a B.S in Business and Marketing and B.A in Theater. In 1987, She received a Masters of Art Theater and Business from Humboldt when she was just 22 years old.

This interest was further explored when Portuges attended a puppet festival being held by the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteer Guild in 1986. It was here she met future business partner Lee Armstrong, who had previously worked on Fraggle Rock, while she was holding a workshop at the festival. They both kept in touch and in 1989, Portuges and Armstrong formed the film and TV puppet production company Images In Motion.

Kamela Portuges was born in Manteca, California in 1963 to Paul and Barbara Portuges. Her family moved to Cottonwood in 1981.