![]() ![]() Anyway, she says, “I really love your work. The good news is they caught the guy, the band news is now we don’t need to shoot it.” I learned a valuable lesson that day don’t go around bragging to people that you’ve booked this role and gonna go do something. I go into the audition and I end up booking the part and we were gonna go to Arkansas to shoot this scene but a week before we’re supposed to go she calls me up, she says, “Dave, I’ve got good news and bad news. In August, the same casting director called me for an audition for America’s Most Wanted. They’re like, “What do you have lined up?” I say, “Nothing.” “How do you know you’re gonna make it?” I said, “I just know it! I just know it!” So from May until September I’m telling people at work that I’m gonna quit my job, get into entertainment full-time, I’m gonna act. I went to my boss and I asked him if he’d put me on a severance package we were about to have a big lay-off and he said, “No, I can’t do that,” so I picked up my calendar, closed my eyes and pointed… to September. ![]() This was in May of 1990 and I decided that I was going to quit my job at the end of the year. So she saw me working with these kids and she was like, “Oh my god! How is he able to do that with these kids?!” She was pretty amazed and asked if I could get her a resumé and I said, “Sure!” I gave it to her and we kept having showcases throughout the year where we would invite her so she saw me interact with the kids constantly at the school. They could be in any type of position while they freeze but they would have to slate as if they were standing straight up and looking into the camera. One of the things I used to do as a mannequin, as you’re standing there frozen, one of the exercises I did with the kids in class was this freeze exercise where they’d have to freeze like a mannequin and while they’re frozen, I’d have them slate. I was preparing these 4 and 5 year olds for the actual showcase and this casting director from Dallas by the name of Shirley Abrams was also invited to the showcase and she came in and saw me working with these kids. They do commercials, comedy and monologues. This was down in Dallas – every year they had a Hollywood showcase where they flew in casting directors and agents from Los Angeles to work with these kids on a two-day seminar. The first class that they gave me was a bunch of 4, 5 and 6 year olds and I just fell in love with working with these kids and teaching them acting. The age range at the school was 3-and-a-half to 18. I went and subbed and fell in love with working with these kids. ![]() They needed a substitute teacher one day and they asked me to fill in. The short version of the long story is that I was working for Texas Instruments as a software analyst and when they hired me, they asked me how long I planned on being there and I said, “Well, my goal is to be here at least five years and then quit to pursue entertainment full time.” After the fifth year I really wasn’t ready to quit and the sixth year came up and I thought, “Okay, this is the year.” So I got involved in an acting workshop and the gentleman that taught the acting workshop for adults, his wife owned an acting school for kids. You have an extremely versatile resume from being a live mannequin to a software analyst to a motivational speaker, but you had no previous experience as a costumed character before becoming Barney, right?Īs a matter of fact, when I was initially asked to audition I turned it down. Read through and take a nostalgic trip with David Joyner, the man inside Barney! ![]() The man who played Barney himself took some time to talk with UTG as he told us the story of how he became the big purple dinosaur and what effects the experience had on him along the way. New episodes of the series have not run since 2009 but PBS stations still continue to show re-runs of Barney & Friends to this day as children are still enjoying that special half hour with their friend Barney. When Barney & Friends first aired in 1992, kids went nuts and Barney merchandise flooded stores and homes alike. Barney is one of the most recognizable dinosaurs, costumed characters and children’s show icons there is. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |