2007 Filipinas Magazine Achievement Awards

Entertainment: Dante Basco
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Audiences first got a glimpse of him playing Rufio, the mohawk-sporting, rambunctious leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 film, “Hook.” Now 31 years old, Dante Basco is all grown up.

An actor for the last 20 years, Basco has been busy working in film and television. His credits include “Moonwalker” (1988); “The Perfect Weapon” (1991); “The Won-der Years” (1991); “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” (1995); “Touched By an Angel” (1996); “Fakin’ Da Funk” (1997)”;“Moesha (1998)”; “But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)”; “The Steve Harvey Show (2000); “Extreme Day” (2001); “Biker Boyz” (2003); “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” (2006); “Entourage” (2006) and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” (2007). Basco can be heard as the voice of Jake Long on the Disney Channel’s “Jake Long The American Dragon” and Prince Zuko in “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

A native of Pittsburg, California, Basco, along with his three brothers, turned to performing arts to keep them out of trouble. Upon telling their mother they wanted to pursue acting careers, the family relocated to Los Angeles in the mid 1980s. There, they began taking acting classes at the Gloria Gifford Conservatory where the Basco siblings were taught to act, write, direct, produce and create sets.

In 2000 Basco played his first-ever Filipino role in “The Debut,” portraying the character of Ben Mercado. Basco viewed the role as an “important” one because he had the opportunity to work with his brothers and felt the movie was the first of its kind to “bridge the gap between the Philippines and America.”

Last year Basco starred alongside Antonio Banderas in “Take the Lead,” a story based on a Manhattan, New York dance teacher named Pierre Dulaine who volunteers to teach ballroom dancing to a group of students serving time in detention. In the film, Basco is Miguel Ramos, a Puerto Rican with a rebellious attitude.

According to an April 2006 interview with Asia Pacific Arts magazine, Basco chose to be in the film because it brought him back to his first love, dancing. At the tender age of eight, Basco was busting out break-dancing moves with his brothers as members of The Streat Freaks. They were opening acts for musicians like rapper Ice T and they also performed at half-time shows at football and baseball games. Dancing was also the reason Basco says he became an actor, thanks to “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever.” Basco modeled the character of Miguel after Tony Marano, which was played by John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever.”

“Take the Lead” also brought Basco to the Philippines, where he attended the premiere in Manila. The trip also connected him with his Filipino roots. Basco and his siblings are in the process of shooting a reality show titled “The Basco Bros. Home At Last,” documenting their visit to the Philippines.

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