Top 35 Dante Basco Quotes

After ‘Hook,’ it was so sad for all of us to watch the set get destroyed. We were at the end of ‘Hook,’ and we’re walking off the Sony lot and we’re literally seeing the boat get destroyed. That was the sad thing, seeing that go.

It’s weird because I grew up in this town, so the things I really dug, I was constantly around them. Like Alyssa Milano – I had the biggest crush on her from TV, but I also saw her around town at parties. It’s just funny.

I guess my voice is more recognizable than I know!

In Hollywood, I was never restricted to just one Asian character. I’ve been cast as a Chinese, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Japanese and a Cambodian.

I come from a traditional media generation, you know? I’m like the last generation of that. And so the whole world has changed, ultimately. Coming into social media, Twitter, Facebook – I mean, the first social media I ever had was Tumblr.

I came up in the ’80s and ’90s – there was no engagement with the fan base.

It’s not always enjoyable to go back and look at things in your life. Things that you’re not proud of, you definitely don’t want to confront; dark times that you’ve already gotten over.

I had a different agent after ‘Hook,’ and they were, like, ‘We don’t know where to go with you. It’s like you’ve already gone to the top of what’s out there for a young Asian actor.’ No one had done anything higher profile than that. And I’m, like, ‘OK, but I’m only 15.’

The crazy thing about ‘Hook’ was it was one of the movies in town that everybody knew about. It was the biggest film shooting in Hollywood at the time and the idea of Robin Williams playing Peter Pan really captured everybody’s imagination.

As far as geek culture, I didn’t grow up in the comic con geek culture lane, then I started doing Comic Cons seeing the impact of it. The character, Rufio living on.

My first professional acting role was a small part in a television series called ‘The Wizard.’ I later had the opportunity to work on Michael Jackson’s Moon-walker music video.

But everyone comes to Hollywood hoping to get a role people are going to remember them for, and I get girls saying I was their first crush, or Asian guys saying Rufio was the first time they saw an Asian kid on-screen that wasn’t nerdy or stereotypical, so I was lucky the character that resonated was cool.

I kind of got popular as a spoken word artist, and I ended up doing some ads and audio stuff for Nike and Sprite.

I love seeing the new generation take something that we’ve done and reinvent it for a whole new time.

My brothers and I came to L.A. as break-dancers when I was about 10, and by the time I was 15, I was working on this really big movie, with Steven Spielberg and Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams.

‘Hook’ became a cult classic without all the lore.

I’ve actually had a great career in Hollywood. I’ve been a working actor my whole life.

I feel like I grew up differently, when you’re a child actor you grow up differently, but it’s not that different than growing up as, like, a child basketball player who goes to the NBA. There are certain kids who become professionals at a very young age. There’s a lot of sacrifice that goes into that.

Within the black community, I’m definitely a neighborhood celebrity.

I got to see this big crazy wild man Robin Williams on the set, and got to act with him in that sense. And then I got to just have really quiet time with him in the trailer, where he’s way more soft-spoken, way more introspective.

I grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood, Paramount, California, outside of L.A., like near Compton, that’s where I’m from.

When preparing for auditions, I have no rituals. I just try to be as prepared as possible.

My grandfather was a survivor of the Death March and his war buddies were among our neighbors. Where we lived in San Francisco, there was a cultural center where the Filipinos congregate to have parties and to celebrate Bataan Day.

My mother always kept us involved in various types of art.

It’s illegal to hire or fire anybody because of their race, appearance, or sexual orientation, but in Hollywood, ironically, it’s the reason people will hire or not hire you.

I am a California Kid.

Depictions of race have changed so much since, like, the ’50s, where white people just played every race. But the pendulum swings both ways: I’m Filipino-American. If I had to wait for a Filipino role to come out to get work, I couldn’t eat. There are barely any roles out there.

I’m a poet, first and foremost as a writer. That’s who I am. That’s what I’m most comfortable writing.

I love being part of the ‘Avatar’ family.

You have to understand, when you’re 15 and you’re doing this Steven Spielberg movie with megastars – Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts – you know you want to be cool. I don’t know how cool I’m going to look with my belly button out!

A lot of times as an actor you watch a film it’s like thumbing through a photo book from your past. It’s people you haven’t seen in a while, there are people that have passed away, and there are people you owe phone calls to.

Being a Filipino actor in Hollywood, the most frustrating part of landing roles in Hollywood is definitely the limited roles available and the lack of diversity.

Back In 1982, I started in show business with my brothers. We started a break dancing group.

I come from a big family of brothers and sisters and family dramas and honor and dishonor.

For me, my first fandom was ‘Star Wars.’