Who Plays Barney the Dinosaur?

Barney the Dinosaur is a children’s television show character that has been played by a number of different people since the show’s inception.  This means there is no one actor who plays Barney the Dinosaur. 

As of 2010, Dean Wendt is the current talent who plays Barney the dancing and singing purple dinosaur on Barney and Friends. Barney has also been played by:

• David Joyner
• Bob West
• Duncan Brennan 

Who Is Barney

Aside from knowing who plays Barney the Dinosaur, you may also wish to know some other facts about the show:

• The concept for Barney was originally for him to be a direct to video children’s television and video series, not a recorded and regularly broadcast television show, which is what he turned out to become. 
• After being discovered by the Public Broadcasting System in 1992, the Barney series became Barney and Friends, and was turned into a syndicated television show that has become popular around the world in the years since that fortuitous discovery.

The Barney Show

Barney generally starts out as a stuffed purple dinosaur who, through a child’s imagination, turns into a dancing, singing, life-sized friendly dinosaur who helps children learn how to solve problems that they are experiencing as well as helping them learn about others and things in the world outside.

Barney is popular among children, although the show has been criticized for being too simplistic and for not going in depth enough with the problem solving aspect of the show to teach children that all problems are not simply and easily solved in a half hour through songs.