Dante Basco

Danté Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American actor, voice actor, poet, and dancer. He is best known for playing Rufio in the 1991 live-action Peter Pan film Hook. He is also well-known for voicing Zuko in the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jake Long from the Disney series American Dragon: Jake Long, and General Iroh of the United Forces in The Legend of Korra.

Television work

 * American Dragon: Jake Long
 * Generator Rex
 * Moesha
 * The Boondocks
 * The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
 * The Wonder Years
 * Zevo-3

Filmography

 * Subject: I Love You (2011)
 * Blood River (2010)
 * The Outside (2009)
 * Blood and Bone (2009)
 * This Life (2008)
 * Take The Lead (2006)
 * Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003)
 * Biker Boyz (2003)
 * Hook (1991)

Other credits

 * Aion (video game)
 * Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (video game)
 * Final Fantasy XIII (video game)
 * Terminator Salvation (video game)
 * The Journey (short)
 * The Lion's Den (short)

Personal life
In his early years, he was part of the Streat Freaks [sic] breakdancing crew. When he got into acting, he started taking on minor roles in television. He later appeared in a substantial role in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, as Rufio, the charismatic red-stripe-haired leader of the Lost Boys. The punk band Rufio is named after this character.

Career
He had guest roles on television shows The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, and had a recurring role on Moesha. He has portrayed characters of different Asian ethnicities. He did however, star in the independent film The Debut, in which he portrayed a Filipino-American alongside his three brothers and sister. He and all of his brothers starred in Naked Brown Men, a sitcom stylized show. He starred as Ramos in the 2006 film Take the Lead alongside Antonio Banderas, where he break-danced as well as performed ballroom dance. This was not the only film in which he was required to dance. In many films he hip-hop dances, just as he did in a Verizon Wireless commercial as well as rapping and breaking in a Sprite commercial. He also produced and co-starred in a music video parody of the song "Rehab" that is called "Wiihab". He is occasionally "whacked" in the video. He played a gay teenager in the 1999 film But I'm A Cheerleader.

Trivia

 * Zuko and Jake Long from American Dragon: Jake Long both have the ability to breathe fire. The characters also had adversarial-turned-friendly relations with a character on their respective shows voiced by Mae Whitman, those characters being Katara and Rose/Huntsgirl, respectively. Basco voiced the villain turned friend on Avatar, while Whitman voiced the villain turned friend on American Dragon.
 * Dante Basco had already worked prior to Avatar: The Last Airbender with Mako Iwamatsu, Iroh's original voice actor, namely in the film Riot (1997), in which the two played father and son.
 * Dante admitted to being a "Zutara"-shipper.