David Joyner is an American actor and massage 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 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 Year Title Role Notes 1993 Barney's Magical Musical AdventureBarney (in-suit performer)Direct-to-video1998 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 & the Backyard GangBarney (in-suit performer) 2 episodes 1992–2001 Barney & Friends 104 episodes 2001 General Hospital Garland 2 episodes 2002 The Wayne Brady ShowBarney (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 UncreditedEpisode: "Is That Plutonium in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?" 2004–2006 ER Dialysis Tech 3 episodes2005 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 episodesAlso producer2007 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 episodes2015 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 Sister2018 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 Adult docuseries
Web Year Title Role Notes 2017 Hip Hop Harry Toy ReviewHip 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
External links
- Interview of David Joyner