Dante Basco

He is known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's Hook, and for voicing the titular protagonist of American Dragon: Jake Long and Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Dante Basco
Basco at Nan Desu Kan 2017
Born	Dante Roman Basco (1975-08-29) August 29, 1975 (age 48) Pittsburg, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Alice Rehemutula ​ (m. 2023)​
Relatives	Dion Basco (brother) Ella Jay Basco (niece)

His voice acting roles include Zuko's grandson General Iroh II in The Legend of Korra, Quoc Wong in The Proud Family, Jingmei in The Boondocks, Tuck in Generator Rex, Scorpion in Ultimate Spider-Man, and Jai Kell in Star Wars Rebels.

Basco was born in Pittsburg, California, and raised in Cerritos and Paramount, California to Filipino parents. He has four siblings, including actor Dion Basco. In the mid-1980s, he and his brothers formed a breakdancing crew and worked as street performers. He attended Orange County High School of the Arts in the Music and Theatre Conservatory and graduated in 1993.

He began his acting career with minor television roles. His breakthrough 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.

In 2017, Basco produced a Kickstarter-funded short film, Bangarang, about the character Rufio. The film was directed by Jonah Feingold.

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. Basco and Janet Varney (voice of Korra) host the podcast, which follows them as they rewatch the series, discuss each episode's key moments and behind-the scenes information, and feature special guests.

Voice acting

 

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, and Master Cheddar in S4 E22 of We Bear Bears titled Baby Orphan Ninja Bears. He voiced Matt Martin/Kewl Breeze in the short-lived animated series Zevo-3, and voiced General Iroh, Zuko's grandson, in The Legend of Korra.

He contributed additional voices for Aion, Mortal Kombat X, and Saints Row. He also voiced Shingo in the Skate series and Seeing Farther in the Call of Juarez series.

On April 19, 2023, Basco became engaged to Uyghur actress and television host Alice Rehemutula. They married in September 2023 in China.

Film

Television

Web series

Video games

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

Cultural impact

Basco's impact on Asian-American culture through his roles in Hollywood and involvement with the community has inspired many young Asian-American people. As one of the only Asian-American faces in Hollywood throughout the 90s, Basco quickly became a leading figure in the Asian-American movement. In one of his earliest films, Hook, Basco was able to show his talent as an actor and gained interest from people throughout Hollywood. This was the start of the Asian-American movement. In 1998, Dante Basco along with Shihan Van Clief, Devin “Poetri” Smith, and Gimel Hooper created the Da Poetry Club. It is a place where people could come together and share their family history or origins through poetry. The club continues to run till this day. However, in the early 2000s there was still little representation of mixed American or foreign people. This is also true in one of Dante Basco’s most popular works, Avatar the Last Airbender. The setting of Avatar the Last Airbender is based on Asian culture as it contains many martial arts and spiritual beliefs commonly seen throughout Asia. While, Avatar the Last Airbender is critically acclaimed as one of the best animated shows of all time, many people have problems with the predominately white cast. For a show that was based so heavily on Asian culture, fans were disappointed to see the lack of representation in the cast. However, the exception was Dante Basco. The character Zuko in Avatar the Last Airbender was quickly beloved by all and the voice behind him gained interest as well. In a world where white people dominated the industry, Basco showed that there is talent outside of the mostly white scene of Hollywood.

Countering racism through Avatar

In 2021, Basco co-hosted a podcast with Janet Varney, the voice of Korra in The Legend of Korra, called Avatar: Braving the Elements. This podcast was created in collaboration with Nickelodeon when Avatar the Last Airbender was released on Netflix. In this podcast, Basco and Varney would talk about the story of Avatar the Last Airbender and go into further detail about the plot, characters, and world building. They would bring on some of the other voice actors or production members and explore the creation process of Avatar the Last Airbender and join in the in depth discussion about the various aspects of the series. In an interview Basco and Varney did, Basco talked about how vital Asian culture is in the story of Avatar the Last Airbender. Basco goes on about the big problems that we have in a modern society and one of the most prevalent problems being racism which he also had seen throughout his time in Hollywood. He explains that one of the biggest plot points in Avatar the Last Airbender is that the protagonist needs to bring balance into the world so that the four nations can live in harmony. His goal through that podcast is bring to light a lot of the racism seen in today's society. Basco hopes that by comparing the two worlds of Avatar the Last Airbender and our world he could help others realize the terrible impacts of racism and show people how they can help combat this problem. Avatar: Braving the Elements recently had its third season air in January of 2024.

• List of Filipino Americans