Barney (character)

This article is about the character. You may be looking for the series or the magazine.

Barney the Dinosaur is a two hundred million year (two dinosaur years) old, six-foot tall, purple tyrannosaurus rex with a green tummy, who comes to life through a child's imagination. He is best known for his friendly, optimistic (and even generous) personality, his positive attitude. His catchphrases are "Super-deeee-dooper" and "Stu-u-u-u-u-pendous!" and his theme song is the "Barney Theme Song". His other well known song is "I Love You," which is sung at the end of almost every episode. Barney likes most kinds of food, but his main favorites include vegetables, and (of all things) peanut butter sandwiches. He also likes sandwiches made with pumpernickel bread, his favorite bread. As of Season 11, Barney has grown to like pistachio nuts as well. He also likes to try new foods. For example in Hola, Mexico!, he tried chips and (hot) salsa but ended up burning his mouth.

Creation[]

Barney was first created in 1987 by a woman named Sheryl Leach, who was looking for a way to entertain her then 2 year old son, Patrick. Another key Barney creator, Kathy Parker, also helped on the idea. She was the one to come up with a teddy bear for a character, since Kathy's daughter had a stuffed teddy bear. However, Patrick was facinated by a dinosaur exhibit at a museum, so they made the character a dinosaur, but on the condition that he was not to appear menacing. So, he was colored purple to appeal to both genders and named Barney.

Portrayal[]

Costume Performance[]

David Voss provided Barney's portraying from the very beginning until 1991, when David Joyner took over for the last Barney and the Backyard Gang episodes and the start of Barney & Friends. In 2002, Carey Stinston became Barney's new player and still plays him to this day.

Who He is Voiced by[]

Bob West provided Barney's voice from the very beginning until 2000, when Duncan Brannan (who is best known for voicing Chuck E. Cheese) and Tim Dever took over for some videos. In 2002, Dean Wendt became Barney's new voice, after having a brief job as a DJ on Radio Disney, and still voices him to this day.

Appearances[]

Barney first appeared in The Backyard Show, though he was introduced to most of the Backyard Gang in A Day at the Beach. Since then he has been in every single episode on his show and videos, hence the names Barney and the Backyard Gang and Barney & Friends.
In 2007, Barney made a special appearance in The Sunny Side Up Show with Nina for Thanksgiving. He made another appearance with Sean in the St. Valentine's Day episode in 2009.
Barney has also guest starred on The Sunny Side Up Show live in the morning of St. Valentines Day 2011 to host Sprout's Dino-Mite Valentine's Sing-A-Long with Dorothy the Dinosaur, which contained a back-to-back marathon of Barney & Friends and Dorothy the Dinosaur.
Barney (along with Baby Bop and BJ) has made appearances in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They also appeared in "Kids for Character".
Barney appeared in "We Are Family" 2002 music video along with the other characters from TV shows.
Barney also made an appearance with Dolly Parton in 2004.

Trivia[]

Since ''Wating for Santa'''', Barney has been a magenta color technically. Since then he has changed his appearance slightly and gotten a lighter magenta color over time. Despite this, his color is only claimed as purple by HIT Entertainment.
Some concept names for Barney were Cosby, Colby, and Danny.