The Man Who Played Barney The Dinosaur Has Finally Revealed Himself

Barney the purple dinosaur is one of America’s most iconic educational kids television shows. But who is the man behind the costume? After all these years leaving us wondering, he has finally taken off his costume and revealed who is he.

Every Kids Favorite

Barney and Friends of course became an immediate hit, but PBS were very close to cancelling the show at the end of its first 30-episode run. Yet because of a protest from local stations, PBS were forced to reconsider, and the show remained on air until 2009. Aren’t we so glad it did!

Rigid Structure

Each Barney and Friends episode had to make sure that it kept to a rigid structure. The lovable dinosaur would transform from a stuffed toy into a life size one, and would educate a group of young school kids about a particular subject, very often using song to do so. After telling everyone, “I love you,” Barney then went back his original form as a stuffed animal.

Our Favorite Characters

Barney was also regularly joined by his other dinosaur friends. Another adored character was Baby Bop, a green baby Triceratops famous for her security blanket; her older brother B.J., a yellow Protoceratops who loved pickles; and Riff, a six-year-old orange hadrosaur who was crazy about inventing new things. Of course we can’t forget the puppets that featured on the show, including Scooter McNutty and Booker T. Bookworm.

Famous Cast Members

Barney and Friends also welcomed more than 100 children on set, and  several of them even went on to have successful showbiz careers. Now famous pop stars Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez are its two most famous cast members. The show also gave several well-known actresses their head start in the spot-light, including Danielle Vega, Debby Ryan and Madison Pettis.