Dante Basco

Dante Roman Titus Basco (born August 29, 1975) is the Filipino-American actor who played Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan's absence, in Hook. In addition to continued screen acting roles, he does voice acting for animated TV and video games,

He was born in Pittsburg, California. He is the brother of Darion, Derek, Dion, and Ariana Basco. In his early years, he was part of the Streat Freaks breakdancing crew. When he got into acting in the late 1980s, he started taking on minor roles in television, including a few appearances as "Kid #3" in The Wonder Years. His first film role was in the Kenpo martial arts film The Perfect Weapon as Jimmy Ho, a supporting character. He came to widespread fame in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook, as the charismatic red-stripe-haired leader of the Lost Boys. The punk band Rufio is named after this character.

Basco went on to have guest roles on television shows, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, and had a recurring role on Moesha. He played a gay teenager in the 1999 film But I'm A Cheerleader. He portrayed characters of different Asian ethnicities, but his first as a Filipino was the independent film The Debut, in which he portrayed a Filipino-American alongside his three brothers and sister. In 2003 he and his three brothers starred in Naked Brown Men, an independent sitcom-style film.

He has provided the voices for the major supporting character Prince Zuko in the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated TV series, and the title role in the animated series American Dragon: Jake Long. He plays several voices in the video game Saints Row, and provides voices for Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Terminator Salvation, and Final Fantasy XIII.

He portrayed the character Ramos in the 2006 film Take the Lead alongside Antonio Banderas, where he performed both break-dancing and ballroom dance. His hip-hop dancing has appeared in commercials for Verizon Wireless and Sprite. Other recent film roles include Philly in Biker Boyz (2003), Alex in the independent This Life (2008) with Danny Glover, Indo in the surfing drama The Outside (2009).

As of 2010 he has roles in a few in-production films: a horror film Blood River, a romance Subject: I Love You, a thriller C.L.A.S.S., and another horror film First Glance.