From 1996 to 2001, Wendt was a DJ and producer on
Radio Disney.
Barney & Friends While working at Radio Disney, Wendt heard about a casting call to find a new voice actor for Barney. Wendt auditioned for Barney through his agent. Due to Wendt traveling extensively to
Los Angeles, California for Radio Disney, he could never audition in person. Wendt sent in a CD of his initial audition and got a callback. After not hearing anything for a while, he was called to record another demo. Wendt did the audition in the closet at the apartment of Joseph Phillips, the music director of
Barney & Friends, in
Plano, Texas. He also sang a couple songs and was interviewed as Barney during the auditions. with his first project being the music video for "We Are Family", a music video featuring various children's character made in response to
9/11. His Barney voice was first heard publicly in the 2001
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Wendt continued to portray as the purple dinosaur until the show's hiatus and did a few projects as Barney afterwards until 2013. Wendt reprised his role as Barney in 2019 for
Jerry Franklin's retirement gala. ==Personal life==