This Is The Guy Who Played Barney For Most Of Your Childhood
by Leonora Epstein - BuzzFeed Staff
7/8/13




You remember this guy, right? The incessantly cheerful and unconditionally loving purple dinosaur, Barney?


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As a child, you never thought twice about Barney’s true identity. But then, one day, as a grown-up, you briefly wondered…


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Well, dear friends, this is the man who played Barney as you knew him. His name is David Joyner.


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And although several people have played Barney, David Joyner was the main man inside the suit between 1992 and 2000.


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Funny fact: Before becoming Barney, David worked for Texas Instruments. As in, the people who make your favorite TI-83 calculators.


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But the story of how David landed Barney role is truly incredible. Apparently, Barney had been around in a few videos before the series. So David watches them before his audition:

"So I get these videos, and every time I tried to watch the video…I’d fall asleep…I’m like, “This is boring!” Barney’s like barely moving, he’s waddling, and the voice is like [in deep, slow motion voice], 'Whoo-hoo-hoo, hello boys and girls'."




But then he has this dream the night before the audition:

"…in this dream, Barney passes out and I give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. So I wake up the next morning and I’m like, “Okay, what was that about?” I’m on my way to the audition, true story, on my way to the audition, I stop at a stop light and I look up and I see this billboard and it says, “Breathe life into your vacation. Southwest Airlines.” It just caught my attention, no big deal.

So I pull into the parking lot where the audition is, close to the airport, and I look up and I see the same billboard. I’m like, “Why am I looking at this billboard?” It dawned on me as I’m walking across the parking lot, “That’s why I couldn’t watch Barney; he’s dead. I’ve got to breathe life into this character!"







So now you know. This is Barney. Are you also having weird feelings of physical attraction?


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http://www.buzzfeed.com/leonoraepstein/this-is-the-guy-who-played-barney-for-most-of-your-childhood