Marisa Kuers-Mailhes (née Kuers; born on June 16, 1987 in Dallas, Texas) is a former American child actress and dancer who portrayed Hannah on Barney & Friends from seasons four to six. Following her role on Barney & Friends, shortly after graduating from college, Mailhes opened a dance studio called Red Door Dance Academy in Wylie, Texas where she teaches dance classes to all ages.
Career[]
Barney[]
Mailhes received a letter from her school inquiring if students would be interested in auditioning for Barney & Friends. Consequently, she brought the letter home and had her mother sign it.
Audition[]
The auditioning process took place at Mailhes' school library. For her audition, Mailhes sang "Singin' in the Rain" and performed a tap dance routine to it. After a while, she has not heard anything back until she received a few callbacks with the final callback being from the Studios at Las Colinas where Barney & Friends was filmed at the time. At Las Colinas, Mailhes was put into different groups of kids through workshops where she and the kids would be taught by Penny Wilson to do various songs, a dance number, and an acting routine. One day at her school, Mailhes' parents walked into her classroom and informed her that they received a call informing them that she booked a role on Barney & Friends.
Mailhes' mother received a call from the producers on the Monday before Thanksgiving break notifying her that they are ready for Mailhes to start working and to bring her in on the Monday after Thanksgiving break.
Barney & Friends[]
At the age of nine, Mailhes' first production of Barney occurred with the video Camp Wannarunnaround, debuting as "Hannah". Mailhes portrayed "Hannah" for seasons four to six of Barney & Friends and additional home videos until 2000.
Post-Barney[]
Mailhes appeared on Purple Tales Podcast with Carey Stinson in April 2019.
Personal Life[]
Barney[]
Mailhes, who lived in downtown Dallas at the time, lives nineteen minutes away from where Barney & Friends was filmed (which was in Irving). Her parents would drop her off to Las Colinas every morning at 7AM and pick her up at 4:30PM. Mailhes received fan mail during her time on Barney where she would sit down with her mother to read each letter, personally respond to them, and even send out promotional photos featuring herself and Barney.
School[]
Following her time on Barney & Friends, Mailhes would get recognized in public for his role as "Hannah". Her friends saw it as a regular occurrence whenever new people would come into school. Interestingly, Mailhes never mentioned her role on Barney to other people while her friends were present.[1] In the sixth season of Barney & Friends, Mailhes made the decision to depart from the show. This choice was influenced by her realization that her consistent absence from school, including missing the first month of her sixth-grade year, was becoming overwhelming. As she was beginning go into middle school, Mailhes expressed to her parents her desire to no longer pursue acting.
Trivia[]
- Mailhes never did and still does not own a VCR, as mentioned in her guest appearance on Purple Tales Podcast.