Dante Basco facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dante Basco
Basco at Nan Desu Kan 2017
Born	Dante R. Basco (1975-08-29) August 29, 1975 (age 48) Pittsburg, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1988–present
Relatives	Dion Basco (brother) Ella Jay Basco (niece)

Dante R. Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's Hook, and Julian Lee in Fakin' da Funk, and for his many voice acting roles, most notably as Prince Zuko from Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender, General Iroh II, Zuko's grandson, in The Legend of Korra, Shingo in EA's Skate., Jake Long from Disney Channel's American Dragon: Jake Long, Fukushima in Kim Possible, Kwok Wong in the Proud Family, Jingmei in The Boondocks, Kenny Rodgers in Firebreather, Tuck in Generator Rex, Scorpion in Ultimate Spider-Man, Jai Kell in Star Wars Rebels, Cheddar in We Bare Bears Javier in Victor and Valentino, and Spin Kick from Carmen Sandiego.

Early life

Basco was born in Pittsburg, California, and raised in Cerritos and Paramount, California. He has four siblings, including actor Dion Basco. In Dante's early years, he was part of the Street Freaks breakdancing crew with his brothers. He attended Orange County High School of the Arts in the Music and Theatre Conservatory and graduated in 1993.

Career

He got into acting taking on minor roles in television. Basco's breakout performance was when he appeared as the leader Rufio of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman. A punk band was later named after this character.

In June 2017, he agreed with Jonah Feingold to work on a new film together, Bangarang, about the character Rufio. The development of the project started with a Kickstarter campaign.

Basco streams gameplay on Twitch.

Basco released his memoir From Rufio to Zuko through the independent publisher, Not a Cult.

Avatar: Braving the Elements, an official Nickelodeon companion podcast to Avatar: The Last Airbender, premiered on June 22, 2021, hosted by Basco and Janet Varney. The podcast is an episode-by-episode deep dive into the Avatarverse with special guest appearances.

Voice acting

Basco talking to a Zuko cosplayer at Otakon 2014.

Basco has done voice acting for many animated productions, including Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jai Kell in Star Wars Rebels and Jake Long in American Dragon: Jake Long. He also voice acted Kwok Wong in The Proud Family. He voiced Matt Martin/Kewl Breeze in the short-lived animated series Zevo-3. He also voiced General Iroh, Zuko's grandson, in The Legend of Korra.

He contributed several voices for the video game Saints Row, as well as voicing Shingo in the video games Skate, Skate 2 and Skate 3. He voiced Seeing Farther in the video game Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood and the Asmodian male youth voice for the MMORPG game Aion: Tower of Eternity. He has also provided voices for the games Aion, Aion: Upheaval and Mortal Kombat X.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Video games

Web

Awards

• Young Artist Award – Hook
  • Won – Best Ensemble Cast
  • Nominated – Best Young Actor

See also

In Spanish: Dante Basco para niños

• List of Filipino Americans