[2] In March 2017, Dillon was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.
As a young puppeteer, Dillon came to the attention of Sesame Street producers when he went to an audition as a high school student.
In 2013, he succeeded Kevin Clash as the performer for Elmo in new productions and appearances following his resignation from Sesame Street in November 2012.
He also replaced the late Richard Hunt as Don Music in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary tribute.
[5] In addition to playing Elmo, Dillon has appeared on Kraft MilkBite commercials, "Healthy Teeth, Healthy Me," "Little Children, Big Challenges," "Little Discoverers: Big Fun With Science, Math and More," Julie's Greenroom, The Muppets Take the Bowl, The Muppets Take the O2, the Nickelodeon webseries "Ask Sylvia" as the title character, and John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean (2010).