David Joyner
Born
David Eugene Joyner

(1963-07-04) July 4, 1963 (age 60)
OccupationActor
Years active1991–present

David Eugene Joyner (born July 4, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for physically portraying Barney (with Bob West and then Duncan Brannan and Tim Dever voicing the character)[1] from 1991 to 2001, and 2022 to present on the 2-part adult docuseries I Love You, You Hate Me, the successor children's television series Barney & Friends and its predecessor Barney and the Backyard Gang (in the last two videos).[2] Later on, he played the title character of Hip Hop Harry.[3]

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.[4][5] He worked as a software analyst for Texas Instruments for six years.[6]

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."[7]

Joyner originally auditioned for the role in 1991, replacing Barney's original costume actor, David Voss.[8][6] 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.[9]

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.[9] 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 also performed the character during birthday parties in 1991 and then for public appearances starting in 1992. He also started to perform him in stage shows such as Barney Live in New York City in 1994 as a peanut salesman and for his balcony scenes, Barney's Big Surprise, and Barney's Musical Castle Live!. Then he portrayed him full time in the TV series starting with the seventh season until 2022.

Outside of acting, Joyner also works as a tantric massage therapist.[10][11]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1993 Barney's Magical Musical Adventure Barney (in-suit performer) Direct-to-video
1998 Barney in Outer Space
Barney's Great Adventure
2006 I'll Be there with You Sheriff
2007 All Lies on Me Tin Man
2009 The Adventures of Umbweki Village Leaper
2010 Kontrolled Mr. Peterson

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1991 Barney and the Backyard Gang Barney (in-suit performer) 2 episodes
1992–2001 Barney & Friends 104 episodes
2001 General Hospital Garland 2 episodes
2002 The Wayne Brady Show Barney (in-suit performer) 1 episode
2002–2003 Today 2 episodes
2003 What Should You Do? Steven Johnson Episode: "New York Bar Hostage Situation"
2004 That's So Raven The Teddy Bear Episode: "Four's a Crowd"
Crossing Jordan CSU Tech Uncredited
Episode: "Is That Plutonium in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?"
2004–2006 ER Dialysis Tech 3 episodes
2005 House Cardiac Surgeon #2 Episode: "Control"
That '70s Show Jazz Musician Episode: "Long Away"
The Inside Good Samaritan Episode: "Aidan"
2006 24 Agent Jones Episode: "Day 5: 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m."
2006–2008 Hip Hop Harry Hip Hop Harry (In-suit performer), Chef Rob 26 episodes
Also producer
2007 Identity Himself 1 episode
American's Next Producer Shelby Episode: "Late Night with Carson Daly"
2008 The Young and the Restless Keith Joyner 6 episodes
2009 The Closer Uni #1 Episode: "Strike Three"
2010 Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster Sinister Clown Television film
2012 My Choice God Episode: "Pilot"
2013 Southland Detective Flynn Episode: "Off Duty"
Wendell and Vinnie Ernesto Episode: "Fathers of Fathers & Sons"
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 Business Man #2 Episode: "Monday June..."
Switched at Birth Gavin Episode: "Mother and Child Divided"
2014 Hart of Dixie Supervisor Greene Episode: "Back in the Saddle Again"
According to Him + Her Reenactment 13 episodes
2015 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn Police Officer Episode: "Family Matters"
Cry Wolfe Carl Episode: "Hot for Teacher"
Murder in the First Reporter #2 Episode: "Oh, Mexico"
2016 Shameless Tod Episode: "The F Word"
Hip Hop Harry: Mini Episodes Hip Hop Harry (in-suit performer)
Angel from Hell Security Clerk Episode: "Funsgiving"
Veep Congress Clerk Episode: "Kissing Your Sister
2018 Just Add Magic Victor Episode: "Just Add Fluffy"
Animal Kingdom Nelson 'Pilot' Episode: "Incoming"
2019 S.W.A.T. Leon Episode: "Track"
Unknown Encounter Joshua Television film
2022 I Love You, You Hate Me Himself Sequel & docuseries

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Hip Hop Harry Toy Review Hip Hop Harry (in-suit performer)
2019 ABC Harry Recurring role

Theater

Year Title Role
1994 Barney Live in New York City Barney (in-suit performer)

References

  1. ^ "Bob West - IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  2. ^ Epstein, Leonora. "10 Things You Never Knew About The Man Who Played Barney". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on July 17, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  3. ^ Vorel, Jim (August 19, 2011). "Energetic David Joyner a natural TV talent as Barney, Hip Hop Harry". Herald & Review. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  4. ^ Vorel, Jim (August 19, 2011). "Energetic David Joyner a natural TV talent as Barney, Hip Hop Harry". Herald & Review. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  5. ^ Monifa, Akilah (July 4, 2017). "Black History 'Erryday': Happy Birthday David 'Barney' Joyner". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  6. ^ a b 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 Archived January 24, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, January 24, 2018.
  7. ^ Tech Insider. "What It's Like To Play Barney For 10 Years". YouTube. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  8. ^ "On the set of Barney". ew.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  9. ^ a b "UTG INTERVIEW: David Joyner, The Man Inside Barney". Under the Gun Review. Archived from the original on January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  10. ^ "The Actor Who Played Barney Is Now a Tantric Sex Therapist | Time". Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
  11. ^ "About Me | Tantra Harmony". Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.

External links