Alright, so today I’m gonna talk about my little side project: figuring out who “Michael from Barney” really was. You know, the kid from Barney & Friends? It’s been bugging me for a while, so I finally decided to dig in.

First off, I hit up the usual suspect: Google. Started searching for “Michael Barney Friends original cast.” Pretty straightforward, right? After a bit of scrolling, I found out the actor’s name is Brian Eppes. Boom! That was easier than I thought.
Next, I wanted to see what this Brian Eppes dude was up to. So, I searched his name on IMDb. Found his page, and yeah, he was Michael from Barney. Turns out he was in the show from 1987 to 1992, playing Michael from ages 8 to 13. Cool, getting somewhere!
But here’s where it gets interesting. According to IMDb, after Barney, he decided to focus on school and sports. No more acting. I was like, “Seriously? Just like that?” I mean, you’re on Barney, and then you just…stop?
I dug a little deeper, tried to find out if he ever talked about his Barney experience. Found a few articles mentioning a mini reunion with some of the original cast in Texas. Apparently, he showed up for that. Nice to see he didn’t completely disown his purple dinosaur past.
Then, I started wondering about the other kids from the show. Remember Amy? Turns out she and Michael were supposed to be the original owners of the Barney doll in the early Barney shows. I tried finding out what happened to the actress that played Amy, but that’s a story for another day.

Honestly, that’s about it. It was a quick little dive, but I satisfied my curiosity. Brian Eppes, aka Michael, left acting to be a regular dude. Can’t blame him, I guess. Being on Barney probably gets weird after a while.
Lessons learned:
- Google is your friend. Seriously, it’s amazing what you can find with a simple search.
- IMDb is a goldmine for actor info.
- Sometimes people just want to live normal lives, even after being on TV.
So yeah, that’s my “Michael from Barney” investigation. Nothing earth-shattering, but it was a fun little trip down memory lane. Now, back to the real work!