Michael Barnard was born on October 8th, 1976 in Barking, England. He is nicknamed Barney and made his TV debut in 1994. He was an excellent junior player with bags of talent winning the World Youth Championship and British Teenage Championship.

Barnard has been unable to fulfill the potential he showed as a youngster. He has featured in the UK Open but has failed to qualify for any of the other major TV tournaments. His best result came in 2006 when he reached the 4th Round of the UK Open losing 11 - 7 to Ronnie Baxter.