David Joyner (actor)
David Joyner (born July 4, 1963) is an American actor from Decatur, Illinois. He is best known for playing Barney from 1991-late 2001 (or early 2002) on the children's television show Barney & Friends and its predecessor Barney and the Backyard Gang during the last two videos [1] and Hip Hop Harry.[2]
Early life
Joyner was born to Roscoe and Mary Joyner. He attended MacArthur High School and graduated from the ITT Technical Institute in Indianapolis.
Barney & Friends
On September 21, 1990, a fax came in from Shirley Abrams asking for a performer to play Barney. David Voss, Barney's original costume actor, had left to join the military and The Lyons Group was looking to film two more Barney & The Backyard Gang videos. Joyner was unsure about being in a costume, having no prior experience in the field. In a phone call, Shirley said he was perfect, as he worked well with kids and was energetic. In an interview, he says that she sent him the first six videos of the Barney series and he would fall asleep no matter how hard he tried. The night before the audition, Joyner had a dream that Barney passed out and the former gave the purple dino mouth-to-mouth CPR. While driving to the audition, he noticed a billboard that said "Breathe Life Into Your Vacation," which made him think about breathing life into Barney and he decided to be as energetic and animated as possible.
After five auditions, he was passed over for a woman. She ended up not being able to handle the kids, so Abrams called Joyner and asked if he would still be interested in playing Barney. Joyner, excited inside, calmly accepted the role.
Joyner continued to perform Barney in the TV series, Barney & Friends during the first six seasons. After the fourth season episode "Let's Eat", he left to film Barney's Great Adventure and was replaced with Josh Martin and Maurice Scott for the rest of the season. Joyner returned to perform Barney in Barney in Outer Space.
Joyner left the series in 2002 when HIT Entertainment took over and was replaced with Carey Stinson. Previously, in Barney Live in New York City, Stinson partially performed the lead character as a peanut salesman and when he misses The Winkster at the balcony twice (The first failed attempt had Barney emerging with mop and bucket), and also performed him in Barney's Big Surprise and Barney's Musical Castle.
References
- ↑ Epstein, Leonora. "10 Things You Never Knew About The Man Who Played Barney". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
- ↑ Vorel, Jim (19 August 2011). "Energetic David Joyner a natural TV talent as Barney, Hip Hop Harry". Herald & Review. Retrieved 20 May 2014.