Christopher Daniel Barnes, also known professionally as C.D. Barnes and C.B. Barnes, is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the title character in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Prince Eric in Disney's The Little Mermaid, as well as Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel. After Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Christopher Daniel Barnes appeared in various Spider-Man television shows and video games.
Biography
Early life
Christopher Daniel Barnes was born on November 7, 1972 in Portland, Maine. When Barnes was eight years old he began his acting career. As a child Barnes was a huge Spider-Man fan.
Career
He moved to Los Angeles where he starred in his first major film role in the 1984 movie American Dreamer. He worked for two years on the television series As the World Turns and in the television movie Picking up the Pieces.
Christopher Daniel Barnes and Robert Hays in Starman
One of Barnes' earliest hits was as Scott Hayden in the television series Starman. His father in Starman was played Robert Hays who would later go on to voice Iron Man on Iron Man: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Barnes felt that Hays played a great father and was a good mentor to him. During this time columnists predicted a "big career" for Barnes.
In 1989, Christopher Daniel Barnes was cast as Prince Eric in the Disney movie The Little Mermaid, which he got when he was only sixteen. The producers cast him because he sounded much older. Barnes has said that The Little Mermaid is his favorit of all Disney movies. Barnes liked the idea that being in a Disney movie would last forever, something he could show his grandchildren.
He voiced several additional voices in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, that ran from 1990 to 1996.
Barnes is best known for playing Spider-Man on Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Barnes had to fight for the part. He joked that he bit and crawled the actors for the role. Barnes eventually got the part. He felt Spider-Man was was noble in that he acknowledges and admits his problems while overcoming them.
He enjoyed that the series got to be more serious than previous works like the Spider-Man series from 1967 and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.
After Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Barnes played Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequal. During his breaks while filming Barnes would try to visit the sets of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager but found security too tight.
From 1996 to 2000, Barnes played Leonard Rickets in Malcolm & Eddie.
In 2010, Barnes returned to play Spider-Man in the video game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The following year he played Spider-Man 2099 in the video game Spider-Man: Edge of Time.
His credits span diverse genres of film and television over the course of more than three decades.
Personal life
At some point he married actress Dawn Nallick, but have since divorced. In 2012 he married Rebecca Guyadeen and are still together. He enjoys reading, writing short stories, playing the guitar, and practicing Yoga.
Roles
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
(Disguised as Peter Parker)
(Disguised as Spider-Man)
Credits
Actor
Spider-Man
- Night of the Lizard
- The Spider Slayer
- Return of the Spider Slayer
- Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous
- The Menace of Mysterio
- The Sting of the Scorpion
- Kraven the Hunter
- The Alien Costume, Part I
- The Alien Costume, Part II
- The Alien Costume, Part III
- The Hobgoblin, Part I
- The Hobgoblin, Part II
- Day of the Chameleon
- The Insidious Six
- Battle of the Insidious Six
- Hydro-Man
- The Mutant Agenda
- Mutants' Revenge
- Morbius
- Enter the Punisher
- Duel of the Hunters
- Blade, The Vampire Hunter
- The Immortal Vampire
- Tablet of Time
- Ravages of Time
- Shriek of the Vulture
- The Final Nightmare
- Doctor Strange
- Make a Wish
- Attack of the Octobot
- Enter the Green Goblin
- Rocket Racer
- Framed
- The Man Without Fear
- The Ultimate Slayer
- Tombstone
- Venom Returns
- Carnage
- The Spot
- Goblin War!
- Turning Point
- Guilty
- The Cat
- The Black Cat
- The Return of Kraven
- Partners
- The Awakening
- The Vampire Queen
- The Return of the Green Goblin
- The Haunting of Mary Jane Watson
- The Lizard King
- The Prowler
- The Wedding
- Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter I
- Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter II: Unclaimed Legacy
- Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter III: Secrets of the Six
- Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter IV: The Six Fight Again
- Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter V: The Price of Heroism
- The Return of Hydro-Man, Part I
- The Return of Hydro-Man, Part II
- Secret Wars, Chapter I: Arrival
- Secret Wars, Chapter II: The Gauntlet of the Red Skull
- Secret Wars, Chapter III: Doom
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
Spider-Carnage
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
Scarlet Spider
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
(Silver Armor) Spider-Man
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
Octo-Spidey
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
(Six Arm) Spider-Man
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
(Actor) Spider-Man
- Spider Wars, Chapter I: I Really, Really Hate Clones
- Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man
Ben Parker
Chameleon (Disguised as Peter Parker)
Chameleon (Disguised as Spider-Man)
Trivia
- Barnes really liked John Semper Jr. and claimed that Stan Lee was the coolest guy ever and he compared Lee to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
- Christopher Daniel Barnes once told People Magazine “When he’s in Peter mode, I wanted to emphasize the youth, and insecurity, and wonder. When he was in Spider-Man mode, I wanted to emphasize the push back of the heroic nature and the will asserting itself to over come these obstacles and the characters.”
- Barnes wanted to play Spider-Man in the live action movie that James Cameron was planning and hoped that he would be contacted. Barnes even said "I've fought Venom so many times, I would hate to see somebody else get the chance!"
- Barnes two favorite Marvel Comics heroes are Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
- Barnes favorite villain in Spider-Man: The Animated Series was the Hobgoblin because of the way Mark Hamill portrayed him. Barnes revealed that when recording his lines with Mark Hamill he saw how intense Hamill was in his performance which made Barnes "really be a hero" while recording his lines as Spider-Man.
- Barnes felt that Spider-Man's "With great power comes great responsibility" was not as pretentious as Superman's "Truth, justice, and the American way."
- Barnes took great pride in his role as Spider-Man and he said that "You wern't the current avatar of the Marvel deity. This is your lilad, this is your honesty. It touches something universal in all of us. When you get the chance to be the voice of that character it means something."
- Barnes was unable to voice Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea so he was replaced by Rob Paulsen who voiced Hydro-Man in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
- Christopher Daniel Barnes later voiced Electro, Spyder-Knight, and Wolf Spider in Ultimate Spider-Man.
- Christopher Daniel Barne's wife, Rebecca Guyadeen, was nine years old when The Little Mermaid came out in 1989. When Rebecca watched The Little Mermaid, she said that she wanted to marry someone just like Prince Eric.