How Barney & Friends Became a Launchpad for Stardom

(Left to right) Kurt Dykhuizen (“Jason”), Pia Manalo (“Min”), Maurié and Monét Chandler (“Ashley” and “Alissa”), John David Bennett II (“Shawn”) and Chase Gallatin (“Stephen”) on stage with Barney the Dinosaur.

The term child star has been around for close to a century at this point. The term child stardom refers to the huge success of young children who gain fame within the entertainment industry. Being a child star also comes with the territory of maturing faster than other children given the demands of the industry. It very much was a job in some cases, as child actors were in need in the industry. A great example of this would be within the television series Barney & Friends. Barney & Friends, a live-action preschool series, centers on a big purple Tyrannosaurus Rex named Barney who comes to life from a child’s imagination whenever he is needed for something. The child aspect of the series often had a revolving door of a diverse cast of children. The series was widely popular in the ’90s where even the Barney character himself was ranked at number three for the highest-paid entertainer in the early ’90s, following Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey. So with a character as popular as that, there comes this association of his co-stars , the children in this case, being linked to a huge level of fame and success. Barney & Friends really was one of the few longest-running live-action shows that allowed the opportunity for many really young children to be a star alongside Barney. But having an appearance on Barney did not lead to automatic success for child stars after their time with the show. It was more so seen as a huge launching pad for future success. For Barney & Friends to be seen as a career launch pad, it wasn’t only through the success of the series itself, but of the circumstances surrounding the show through where it was filmed, the show’s two biggest stars, and the growing nature of the child star popularity height.

Unlike other children’s shows filmed in Hollywood or New York, Barney & Friends was filmed in Dallas, Texas. It’s important to note that prior to and around the same time as Barney & Friends, there were other children’s shows that were filmed in Dallas that also featured children from Barney. Those included The Donut Repair Club, Gerber, and Psalty’s Songs for Li’l Praisers, which were all live-action, faith-based productions for children. Dallas, or North Texas in general, was viewed as a niche network but a great market for children to have an early exposure to the camera compared to other parts of the US. However, no other children’s show filmed in Dallas that contains a heavy revolving door of a children’s cast has come close to the success of Barney & Friends, and that’s what started the children’s acting boom in the area. Talent agents have cited that Barney & Friends benefits from a deep pool of talented kids who have no other regular outlet for acting. “Dallas has become a market that is very heavily scouted by the L.A. agents because we have turned out a number of good kids that are rising,” says Kim Dawson owner of the Kim Dawson Agency, which had a few clients on Barney & Friends. A lot of these children, however, weren’t only aspiring to become a child actor in their own right but wanted to be the next big thing from Barney & Friends, thanks to two notable individuals.

An image of Barney the Dinosaur and a young Selena Gomez flashes on screen during Gomez’s time on “The View” (October 2013).

Season seven of Barney & Friends ushered in a brand new cast unlike the previous seasons. In the cast, most notably, is Selena Gomez as “Gianna” and Demi Lovato as “Angela”. They stayed with the series in season seven and eight and were eventually phased out of the show. Following their time with Barney & Friends, they experienced major successes in their careers. Both girls went on to have their own shows on Disney Channel, where Selena Gomez played the main character “Alex Russo” on Wizards of Waverly Place and Demi Lovato starred as “Sonny Munroe” on Sonny with a Chance, on top of doing and being in other things with Disney Channel at the time. Both girls also had huge music careers during their time on Disney Channel on top of acting. Their success and time with the show would even be documented in official Barney press releases, which was something that no other series regulars have gotten prior. Because of the girls’ success post-Barney, it inspired cast members such as Victoria Lennox and Kacie Lynch, who played “Tracy” and “Taylor” respectively on Barney & Friends, to try and follow in their footsteps.

“I look at them as my role model. This is going to be a great little stepping stone for me. I want to follow in their footsteps.” — Victoria Lennox (circa 2009)

“To see what she’s been able to do, especially being from Texas and her being on Barney like I am now, I am hoping to have a career like hers [Demi Lovato]. I hope to have my own Disney Channel show one day and have my own album and be able to tour and meet fans.” — Kacie Lynch (circa 2009)

Even Jaren Lewison, who played “Josh” on Barney & Friends and who would eventually be notable for being on the Netflix series Never Have I Ever, aspired to be like Selena and Demi:

“People still talk about Selena and Demi, and we have so many other incredible alumni that are doing so well. And you know, oftentimes we look at their career paths and we say, ‘Okay, what did they do? How much were they training? What were they specializing in? What were they trying to grow on and learn?’ And it helped me a lot. It was funny when I was, I think, eight years old, there was a part of the set that Demi and Selena had both signed. In my last episode, the director came over to me and he was like, ‘I want to show you something.’ He showed me where they signed and he said, ‘These people are doing so incredibly well, and I know that that’s going to be you someday. I want you to sign it and make it so.’ And I said, ‘Okay.’ So I signed my name on this set piece. So somewhere, I don’t know if it’s been destroyed or where it is, there’s a set piece that has Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and my signature — the three of us in a line on whatever set piece from Barney. And hopefully, I mean, they’re both doing so so well that I hope to continue to eventually be in that realm of success as well.” — Jaren Lewison (circa 2022)

Jaren Lewison sits down with Jennifer Hudson and reminisces about Barney & Friends on The Jennifer Hudson Show.

In the 1990s, The Mickey Mouse Club helped to launch the careers of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Ryan Gosling. Once the 2000s hit, we suddenly entered into a boom of child stardom, as this decade was considered to be the golden age to be a child star. You had people like Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Zac Efron, Hilary Duff, Raven-Symoné, Keke Palmer, Miranda Cosgrove, and so many others. In the 2000s, Barney & Friends unknowingly charted a path for child stardom and essentially became a series to be on for young stars. Because the series is known to help launch the careers of Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Madison Pettis, on top of being known to feature young stars like Kyla Pratt and Debby Ryan, all of whom were on Barney prior to being on Disney Channel, where they greatly contributed to the child stardom phenomenon at the time. This sudden rise, when networks were banking on young stars who could sing, dance, and act, further added to the fuel of Barney being this show that could launch one into being a global star as big as Barney himself. Child stars were becoming brands with loyal fan bases similar to Barney himself. And with a series like Barney & Friends that contained a large cast of children, it reinforced this idea that young children could essentially make it onto television, as it was seen as this attainable effect around this time because on shows like Barney & Friends, they displayed children who were just like the average viewer and audience member.

Barney & Friends was such a rarity, especially for young child stars who were hoping to make it into the industry. It’s quite a shame that we moved away from the live-action series into an animated one, as I think seeing other real young children greatly contributed to relatability for when viewing Barney & Friends. Looking back, it seemed like the default move that once you’re finished with Barney & Friends, you go and move on to Disney, which was the case for people like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Madison Pettis, Kyla Pratt, Trevor Morgan, Debby Ryan, Kacie Lynch, Montse Hernandez, and Lacy Cavalier. But that really wasn’t always the case, especially when Barney & Friends was just starting out. There wasn’t this expectation to be the next big star because Barney himself was the star.

I didn’t understand the importance like Selena Gomez did as far as when you’re on the show to keep going. I should have just kept going into acting and, you know, things of that nature at that time. But, you know, I didn’t understand the impact until later on in life that Barney really had on people.” — Rickey Carter (“Derek”) (circa 2019)

Barney wasn’t always the road to stardom, but it definitely took some time to see him as the launch pad for a young star’s career.

Author’s Note: This article was inspired by ‘Barney the launching pad’ by LA Times.