David Joyner

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.

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 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.

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

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)