Dante Basco

  

Dante Basco
Biographical information
Born	August 29, 1975 Pittsburg, California
First credit	Santa Barbara (1988)
Further information
Link(s)	IMDb Wikipedia Facebook Google+ Instagram Official website Pinterest Tumblr Twitter YouTube

Danté Roman Titus Basco is an American actor, voice actor, and dancer. He is best known for playing Rufio in the 1991 live-action Peter Pan film Hook, in addition to his voice acting roles which include Zuko in 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.

Avatar: The Last Airbender credits

Zuko

Character information: Zuko

48 episodes

100. Unaired pilot 101. "The Boy in the Iceberg" 102. "The Avatar Returns" 103. "The Southern Air Temple" 104. "The Warriors of Kyoshi" 107. "Winter Solstice, Part 1: The Spirit World" 108. "Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku" 109. "The Waterbending Scroll" 112. "The Storm" 113. "The Blue Spirit" 115. "Bato of the Water Tribe" 118. "The Waterbending Master" 119. "The Siege of the North, Part 1" 120. "The Siege of the North, Part 2" 201. "The Avatar State" 202. "The Cave of Two Lovers" 204. "The Swamp" 205. "Avatar Day" 207. "Zuko Alone" 208. "The Chase" 209. "Bitter Work" 211. "The Desert" 212. "The Serpent's Pass" 213. "The Drill" 214. "City of Walls and Secrets" 215. "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" 216. "Appa's Lost Days" 217. "Lake Laogai" 218. "The Earth King" 219. "The Guru" 220. "The Crossroads of Destiny" 301. "The Awakening" 302. "The Headband" 305. "The Beach" 306. "The Avatar and the Fire Lord" 309. "Nightmares and Daydreams" 310. "The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion" 311. "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse" 312. "The Western Air Temple" 313. "The Firebending Masters" 314. "The Boiling Rock, Part 1" 315. "The Boiling Rock, Part 2" 316. "The Southern Raiders" 317. "The Ember Island Players" 318. "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King" 319. "Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters" 320. "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into the Inferno" 321. "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang"

Additional voices

• 101. "The Boy in the Iceberg"
• 104. "The Warriors of Kyoshi"
• 105. "The King of Omashu"
• 108. "Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku"
• 109. "The Waterbending Scroll"
• 115. "Bato of the Water Tribe"

The Legend of Korra credits

Iroh

Character information: Iroh

• 110. "Turning the Tides"
• 111. "Skeletons in the Closet"
• 112. "Endgame"
• 205. "Peacekeepers"
• 214. "Light in the Dark"
• 411. "Kuvira's Gambit"

Selected other credits

Television work

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

Filmography

• JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time (2014)
• Subject: I Love You (2011)
• Blood River (2010)
• The Journey (2010; video short)
• The Outside (2009)
• Blood and Bone (2009)
• This Life (2008)
• Take The Lead (2006)
• Love Don't Cost a Thing (2003)
• Biker Boyz (2003)
• The Debut (2000)
• The Lion's Den (1998; short)
• Hook (1991)

Other credits

• Aion (video game)
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (video game)
• Final Fantasy XIII (video game)
• Terminator Salvation (video game)

Biographical information

Personal life

In his early years, Dante Basco 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

Basco has had guest roles on television shows The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and a recurring role on Moesha. He played a gay teenager in the 1999 film But I'm A Cheerleader and starred in the independent film The Debut, in which he portrayed a Filipino-American alongside his three brothers and sister; he appeared with his brothers again in 2003 in the sitcom Naked Brown Men. He appeared as Ramos in the 2006 film Take the Lead alongside Antonio Banderas, where he break-danced as well as performed ballroom dancing. Basco has performed in commercials as well, hip-hop dancing in a Verizon Wireless commercial and rapping and break-dancing in a Sprite commercial. He also produced and co-starred in a music video parody of the song "Rehab", called "Wiihab". Basco has portrayed characters of many different Asian ethnicities.

In 2019, he published his autobiographical novel From Rufio to Zuko.

Awards

• 2012: Won a Special Jury Prize for Hang Loose (Best Actor)
• 2012: Won a Special Jury Prize for Paradise Broken (Best Actor)
• 1993: Won a Young Artist Award for Hook (Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture)

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 with Mako Iwamatsu, Iroh's original voice actor, prior to Avatar: The Last Airbender in the 1997 film Riot, in which the two played father and son.
• Dante admitted to being a "Zutara" shipper.
• Dante Basco, dressed as Zuko, made a cameo in Doug Walker's countdown of the best Avatar episodes. In character, Basco wanted to get revenge on the Nostalgia Critic for shaming the Avatar franchise and yelled about "honor". However, he later made peace with the Critic and helped him to finish the countdown. Later in the video, Basco changed his costume to Jake Long.