In this paper, a novel failure-distribution-dependent H∞ fuzzy fault-tolerant control algorithm is proposed for a type of multiple-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) nonlinear bilateral teleoperation systems with partial actuator failures and time-varying communication delays. At first, the nonlinear systems are modeled as T-S fuzzy systems with multiple time-varying delays. The upper bound and lower bound of the transmission delays are incorporated in the stability analysis. When actuator failures exist in both master and slave robot, based on the characteristic of failures and delays, H∞ fuzzy fault-tolerant controllers are designed by using free-weight matrix approach. After this, a sufficient condition is provided to ensure the mean square stable of the closed-loop system with a disturbance attenuation level γ. Finally, numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.