David Joyner (actor)

David Eugene Joyner (born July 4, 1963) is an American actor and therapist. He is best known for physically portraying Barney from 1991 to 2001 on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' and its predecessor '' Barney & the Backyard Gang''. Bob West, Duncan Brannan, and Tim Dever voiced the character. Later on, Joyner played the title character of ''Hip Hop Harry''.

Early life

Joyner was born July 4, 1963, in Decatur, Illinois, to Roscoe and Mary Joyner. He attended MacArthur High School and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic engineering technology from the ITT Technical Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana. He worked as a software analyst for Texas Instruments for six years.Snyder, Chris. "This man played Barney the dinosaur for 10 years — here's what it was like." Business Insider. June 2, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-man-who-played-barney-the-purple-dinosaur-for-10-years-david-joyner-interview-2017-5 , January 24, 2018.

Career

Joyner once stated that he had a dream the night before he auditioned to play the role of Barney. In the dream, Barney passed out and Joyner had to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation. And on the day of the audition, Joyner stopped at a red light and noticed a billboard above him for Southwest Airlines. It said "breathe life into your vacation." Joyner decided that "if I could breathe life into this character, I was going on vacation."

Joyner originally auditioned for the role in 1991, replacing Barney's original costume actor, David Voss. Joyner was originally cast as the back-up performer, but took over the role after the actress originally chosen had difficulty staying in the costume for long periods of time.

Joyner was originally cast to play Barney in two ''Barney & the Backyard Gang'' home videos, but continued to play Barney in the TV series ''Barney & Friends'' during the first six seasons, as well as in live performances. 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'' in 1997. After he left the series, he also continued to play him for occasional appearances until 2005 with a brief return in 2008.

At that time, he was replaced with Carey Stinson, who had also performed the character for birthday parties in 1991 and public appearances starting in 1992. He also started to perform him in stage shows such as ''Barney Live in New York City'' in 1994.

Outside of acting, Joyner also works as a tantric massage therapist.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Theater

References

External links

*
* - Interview of David Joyner

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyner, David
People from Decatur, Illinois
Living people
American male television actors
1963 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
20th-century African-American male actors
21st-century African-American male actors