About Barton:

Dance found Him when he was 12 years old. Sports had always come naturally, but dance came from another place entirely. His earliest formal training happened between his high school, Denver School of the Arts, and his studio, The Academy of Colorado Ballet. He discovered his love for acting and theater thanks to a group of friends who started a local theater company, The Black Actor’s Guild. In 2010, He attended the University of Arizona for college as a dance major, and graduated in 2013, a year early, with honors. When he was home from college he would work with The Back Actor’s Guild to produce and perform in improv and sketch comedy shows for the community.

Barton’s professional career began after graduating from college by originating the role of ‘Romeo’ in the European tour of Bad Boys of Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet. He moved to New York in 2014. Since moving to NYC, Barton has performed principal roles on stage for Lar Lubovitch, Pontus Lidberg, Bad Boys of Ballet, the first national and tour of an American in Paris, several different Encores’ productions at City Center, The Metropolitan Opera’s La Traviata, and much more. Many will recognize him as ‘Oren Lennox’ in Netflix’s hit series Tiny Pretty Things, which was released at the end of 2020. Barton was also the romantic lead, ‘Damon’ in Center Stage 3 on Lifetime.

In late November of 2023, Barton was diagnosed with a lemon sized brain tumor on his right frontal lobe. The pathology revealed a rare type of slow growing brain cancer, Oligodendroglioma. Posting about his health experience on social media garnered a great deal of attention and support, and helped him form a bond with Oligo Nation.

Barton started rehearsals for The Outsiders in February of 2024. He made his ensemble broadway debut as ‘Brill’ that April and his principal broadway debut in the role of ‘Bob’ in early 2025. The Outsiders became a hit sensation and won 4 Tony awards include ‘Best Musical’! Since then, he brought Gotta Dance to audiences at The York Theater in late 2025, and again at Stage 42 in spring of 2026. He teaches periodically, and is currently back in his original track at The Outsiders.