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Dante Basco
Face of man with dark hair
Basco at Nan Desu Kan 2017
Born
Dante R. Basco

(1975-08-29) August 29, 1975 (age 48)
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

Dante Basco Aug 2014
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

Year Title Role Notes
1988 Moonwalker Romeo
1989 The Wizard Corey's friend Deleted Scenes
1990 Cold Dog Soup Chinese Boy
1991 Hook Rufio
1991 The Perfect Weapon Jimmy Ho
1995 A Goofy Movie Nerd in blue Star Trek shirt/student with a red 10 on his shirt
1995 Fist of the North Star 'Bat' Direct-to-video
1996 Gangstaz Mario
1997 Fakin' da Funk Julian Lee
1998 Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights Prince Hong
1999 But I'm a Cheerleader Dolph
2000 The Debut Ben Mercado
2000 Rave Jay Hoon
2001 Extreme Days Corey Ng
2003 Love Don't Cost a Thing Spoken Word Artist
2003 Biker Boyz Philly
2003 ... Brown Men Dante
2006 Take the Lead Ramos
2008 This Life Alex
2008 Nite Tales: The Movie Gerard
2009 The Outside Indo
2009 Blood and Bone Pinball Direct-to-video
2010 Blood River Chuck G
2010 Flipped Unknown Trailer only
2010 Subject: I Love You Nicky
2011 Paradise Broken Ray
2012 Hang Loose Dante
2014 Bad ... Gangly Asian
2014 Anita Ho Taylor Bautista
2014 JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time Karate Kid (voice) Direct-to-video
2014 Hansel and Gretel Dad Short film
2014 Murder101 D. Phillips
2016 Jarhead 3: The Siege Blake Laureano Direct-to-video
2021 The Fabulous Filipino Brothers Duke Also director
2021 Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild Aiden (voice)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1988 The Wonder Years Gym Class Kid, Eddie, Kid #3 3 episodes
1988 Santa Barbara Amado 3 episodes
1989 Highway To Heaven Champ Hopkins Episode: "Choices"
1991 The Hit Man Pauly Television film
1992 Raven Lucas Episode: "The Journey"
1993 Hangin' with Mr. Cooper Sammy Episode: "Seoul Shake"
1995 Alien Nation: Body and Soul Trash #2 Television film
1995 500 Nations Himself (voice) Miniseries
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Kevin Episode: "Cold Feet, Hot Body"
1996 Touched by an Angel Miguel Episode: "Random Acts"
1996 Nash Bridges Jimmy Chang Episode: "Home Invasion"
1997 Riot Jeffrey Lee Television film
Segment: "Gold Mountain"
1998 Promised Land Tito Episode: "Out of Bounds"
1998 Moesha Marco 4 episodes
1998 Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Ghost of Rudi Hernandez Episode: "The Student"
1999 Undressed Jake 5 episodes
1999 Viper Rishi Lama Episode: "Holy Terror"
2000 The Steve Harvey Show Lee Episode: "Guess Who's Not Coming to Counseling"
2001 The Chronicle Noodles Episode: "Here There Be Dragons"
2001 A Kitty Bobo Show Kitty Bobo (voice) Television film
2002 The Chang Family Saves the World Television film
2002 The Proud Family Kwok Wong (voice) Episode: "Romeo Must Wed"
2002 Providence Justin Kim Episode: "All the King's Men"
2003 Kim Possible Fukushima (voice) Episode: "Exchange"
2005–07 American Dragon: Jake Long Jake Long (voice) 55 episodes
2005 Lilo & Stitch: The Series Episode: "Morpholomew"
2005–08 Avatar: The Last Airbender Prince Zuko, Soldier #1, Additional Voices (voice) 49 episodes
2006 Entourage Fukijama Episode: "What About Bob?"
2007 The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Madrid 2 episodes
2010 CSI: Miami Ruben Franco Episode: "Happy Birthday"
2010 Generator Rex Tuck (voice) 5 episodes
2010 The Boondocks Jingmei (voice) Episode: "The Red Ball"
2010 Firebreather Kenny Rogers (voice) Television film
2010–11 Zevo-3 Matt Martin / Kewl Breeze (voice) 26 episodes
2011 Prime Suspect Bounce (voice) Episode: "Carnivorous Sheep"
2012 Hawaii Five-0 Nicky Chang Episode: "Pu'olo"
2012–14 The Legend of Korra General Iroh II (voice) 6 episodes
2013 Ultimate Spider-Man Scorpion, Flash Thompson (voice) 2 episodes (as Scorpion)
Unknown # of episodes (as Flash Thompson)
2014 Love Midori Dante 2 episodes
2014, 2017 Star Wars Rebels Jai Kell (voice) 2 episodes
2014 Hell's Kitchen Himself Episode: "8 Chefs Compete"
2018 A Million Little Things Cory Episodes: "Unexpected" and "I Dare You"
2019 We Bare Bears Master Cheddar (voice) Episode: "Baby Orphan Ninja Bears"
2019 Victor and Valentino Javier (voice) Episodes: "Legend of the Hidden Skate Park" and "Los Perdidos"
2020 Carmen Sandiego Spinkick (voice) 3 episodes
2021 Trese Bagyon Kulimlim (voice) Episode: "Episode 2"
2021 Robot Chicken Squall Leonhart, Zuko (voice) 2 episodes

Web series

Year Title Role Notes
2013–present JustKiddingNews Himself
2014–19 Nostalgia Critic 6 episodes
2016–present Camp Camp Billy "Snake" Nikssilp 4 episodes
2016 Perfect-timing villain Agent Tanner 1 episode
2017 Squad Wars Himself Episode: "The Try Guys 90s Boyband Music Video Challenge"
2018 Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures Narrator (voice) 11 episodes
2019 Rooster Teeth's Hardcore Tabletop: World Series 5 episodes
2020-21 Let's Read Homestuck Rufioh Nitram 2 episodes
2020 Death Battle Zuko Episode: "Zuko VS Shoto Todoroki"

Video games

Year Title Voice role Notes
2004 Def Jam Fight for New York Additional Voices
2006 Saints Row Stillwater's Residents
2006 Avatar: The Last Airbender Prince Zuko
2007 Skate Shingo
2007 Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth Prince Zuko
2008 Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno
2008 Aion Youth Male Voice, Additional Voices
2009 Skate 2 Shingo
2009 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Seeing Farther
2009 Terminator Salvation Resistance Soldier
2010 Final Fantasy XIII Cocoon Inhabitants English dub
2010 Skate 3 Shingo
2011 Nicktoons MLB Prince Zuko
2012 Avatar: The Legend of Korra General Iroh II
2015 Mortal Kombat X Additional Voices
2022 Blacktop Hoops Announcer

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2015 Nostalgia Critic Himself Video: "Top 11 Best Avatar Episodes w Dante Basco!"

Awards

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Dante Basco para niños

  • List of Filipino Americans
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