Dante Basco Revealed Which Of His Beloved Characters Would Win If They Fought Each Other And 12 Other Things We Learned About Him
Dante Basco, best known for his roles as Prince Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender and Rufio from Hook, chatted with us about his work in Artificial Factions, The Fabulous Filipino Brothers, and his experience as an Asian-American in the entertainment industry. Here's everything we learned:
1.After 30 years in the industry, Dante believes his work has helped widen the scope and possibilities of what it means to be Asian in America.
"The whole industry, it's been very kind to me. As I said, I've been here for over 30 years, so I feel fortunate all the time and blessed. At the end of the day, to kind of have a career that has lasted as long as it's lasted for me so far in this industry. It's hard whether you're Black, White, Asian, Latino, other, you know, this is just a very hard industry, but to be one of the handful of Asians that came through the, you know, the 80s and 90s, and now to the 2000s, and seeing this kind of golden age happening, it's really wonderful. But as far as how I always felt, I always felt cool. You know, I always felt cool, because I always felt that Hollywood hadn’t seen anything like me yet, you know. So I was able to kind of help widen the scope of what, what the possibilities and what it could mean to be Asian in America."
2.Dante was inspired by the on-screen actors and actresses that came into the industry before him, including Mako Iwamatsu and Cary Tagawa.
"As you kind of, you know, further your journey along, you understand who you are and all the people that came before you and trying to pay it forward to the generations that are coming after you and learning so much from you know, cats like Mako Iwamatsu, who played Uncle Iroh, and Cary Tagawa, and other guys that came before me. You know, you feel you get to a certain age, I'd say in your late 30s, when you start feeling a sense of responsibility of some sort to kind of pay it forward for the next generation."
"I was just at the Unforgettable Award Show, which for those who don’t really know what their info is, from Character Media magazines, it's like the largest Asian award ceremony in LA. Been going to it for years and me and all my friends, we all refer to it as “Asian Prom”. It's THE Asian prom, we all get dressed up and whatnot. But to see people this year awarded, like Jimmy O Yang, John Cho, Simu Liu and the Shang-Chi cast, and Sandra Oh, you feel a lot of pride in where we've been, and collectively what we're all doing to pay it forward to the next generation."
3.Although he's played numerous roles that left a lasting impact, he can't choose a favorite role that he's played.
Sony Pictures / Via Giphy
"I’m connected to all of them, you know. They all represent different parts and times of my life. Of course, Zuko, I'm really connected to because I've played him for so long– it's such a beautiful redemption arc. You know, Rufio was my teenage years and really my entrance into Hollywood and that platform that not a lot of people get, you know, as far as being introduced to Hollywood by Steven Spielberg, alongside Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams is beyond words, but there's other films that mean so much to me. Playing the lead in a movie called The Debut, which is the first Filipino-American film ever produced in Hollywood, and I got to be the star of that film. And again, get to have a voice for my community, almost 20 years ago when that film came out. So all these different films take the lead, I got to dance in a movie with Antonio Banderas and I started my whole career as a dancer. So to get to dance in the film was my Grease, my, you know, plug in the musical that you grew up with. That was my musical moment. In Hollywood, it meant the world to me to do that. So they all, this, like, they all mean different things to me, you know?"
4.You may be surprised by who he believes would win if his characters had to battle each other.
"It's got to be Jake Long. It's got to be the American Dragon: Jake Long. Like, he's a dragon!!! He's a dragon!!!!!!! And someone told me recently at a Con I believe they're like, you know, Rufio is so popular. And Zuko, obviously so popular. And they're like, don't forget you have an original Disney character. I'm like, Oh, yeah. Jake Long the American Dragon. And this person says, 'Jake Long is the first Asian American Disney hero. That's true.' And I was like, 'What are you talking about? So what about Mulan?' And she was like, 'No Mulan is from China.' I was like, 'Oh, you're right.' Jake Long the Mack Daddy Dragon of the NYC, he's the first Asian American Disney hero. So shout out to Jake Long! And he's a dragon! I think if he goes Dragon form, he’s taking everybody out."
"I think Zuko is amazing. They've had, like, animations of Zuko fighting all kinds of different heroes and I think Zuko could hold his own for sure. But Zuko was not there to be a hero. They're just, that's part of their culture, that's what they do. Like, Jake Long is a hero. You know, superheroes. They're out there to battle things and then the great thing about Avatar was that they're just kids that also that's part of what they do. That's part of their power, but they're not necessarily heroes. They do become heroes."
5.Through his newest film, The Fabulous Filipino Brothers, Dante was able to take on a new position by becoming a producer.
6.Although The Fabulous Filipino Brothers may be the first time you've been introduced to Basco's brothers, they've been with him during his entire career.
7.In fact, this film is so special because they are not only working with family, but it's inspired by familiar stories.
8.Dante wants to keep the momentum of Asian filmmaking happening.
"Download the movie, download the film, let's keep this whole momentum of Asian filmmaking happening. We’re at the highest-profile we've been as a community since the beginning of Hollywood. So this is the time for us to continue to make movies. And again, when I say make movies, it's not just us filmmakers making movies, it's our community making movies. So it's about the community also supporting the movies being made and keeping it moving forward. So the success of any movie leads to the making of the next film. And that's, that's important for the process."
9.Artificial Factions, another one of Dante's newest projects, shows a new way of storytelling and the future of entertainment.
10.Dante plays Zander Cruz in the Twitch series and he had a lot of fun playing a flamboyant playboy billionaire.
11.In the future, Dante hopes to be a part of the MCU or the DC Universe, and we're rooting for him!
12.His niece, Ella Jay Basco, was actually in DC's Birds of Prey with Margot Robbie.
13.Dante co-founded Da Poetry Lounge (DPL), which is the largest, weekly open mic venue in the country, and created a poem to give advice for those who want to work in the creative industry.
Watch the full interview here! (Note: interview starts at 4:50 mark.)
Thanks for chatting with us, Dante! The Fabulous Filipino Brothers is available for download starting February 8th here, and you can watch Dante in the newest season of Artificial Factions here!
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