The Man Behind The Purple Phenomenon Known As Barney Speaks On Reboot!

And who does Barney look like?

David Joyner, the man who wore the suit of iconic child character Barney The Dinosaur. 

Barney was a popular and controversial figure.

Joyner was the suit, the voice was provided by comedian Bob West.

Joyner  is an American actor and 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. 

Joyner played the title character of Hip Hop Harry.

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.[9] 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.

The new design of Barney.

David exclusively told The U.S. Sun: “I think the reboot being a 3D animated character is a great idea, although I'm not really happy with the way they portray Barney’s character and the way it looks.

“This is just my opinion from looking at the new character, it almost looks like a kid dinosaur.

“It doesn't look like an adult Barney dinosaur.

"Maybe they're going through the angle of Barney as a kid, doing little mischievous things and then growing up.

“I could be wrong, but that's just my take.”

Joyner physically portrayed Barney until 2001, while actors Tim West, Duncan Brannan, and Tim Dever voiced the character.

Mattel said when they announced Barney’s return that they are aiming to bring the new 3D animation to TV, film, online, and musical projects.

A full range of new books, toys, and apparel will also be released, the company said.