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Nicolas Cantu (born September 8, 2003), known by his internet pseudonyms junky janker and TheCAN2Network, is an American actor, internet personality, video producer, and former animator.
Nicolas Cantu | |||||||
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| Born | September 8, 2003 | ||||||
| Other names | junky janker[a] TheCAN2Network[b][4] | ||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2014–present | ||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
| Subscribers | 419,000 (November 2024) | ||||||
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Cantu is best known for being the third voice of Gumball Watterson in the Cartoon Network animated television series The Amazing World of Gumball (2017–2019) and the voice of Leonardo in the animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) and its Nickelodeon television adaptation Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024). Cantu is also well known for starring as Elton Ortiz in the AMC television series The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020–2021)[5][6] and as Hark in the film The Fabelmans (2022).[7][8]
His YouTube channel has over 415,000 subscribers.[9]
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Nicolas Cantu was born in Mexico City, Mexico[c][1] and raised in Austin, Texas. He is of Mexican descent; both of his parents are from Mexico City.[5][10][11] His father is a lawyer and his mother is a social worker.[12] Cantu is the second of three sons, having two brothers, Sebastian and Matias.[13] He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and attended Stone Oak Elementary School.[14][15] He moved to Los Angeles, California when he was 10 years old in order to pursue his acting career. Cantu eventually moved back to San Antonio in 2022.[14]
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Commercials
Cantu began his career starring in several TV commercials, such as one for the San Antonio Spurs.[15][16]
Television
He began his acting career at the age of twelve with a guest voice role as Diego Márquez in a 2016 episode of the Nickelodeon series Dora and Friends: Into the City!. He then began voice acting in main roles in the same year. His first main voice role was as Rowan Freemaker in the Disney XD television series Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures.[17] He also starred as Paco on the TV animated show Future-Worm!, voiced Prince James for the Disney Junior show Sofia the First, replacing Tyler Merna, and provided additional voices for the Cartoon Network reboot series The Powerpuff Girls.[18] From 2017 to 2019, he voiced the title character on the Cartoon Network series The Amazing World of Gumball, replacing Jacob Hopkins during the fifth season. In The Gumball Chronicles, an eight-episode miniseries based on the show, which premiered on the said network in 2020, he was replaced by Duke Cutler due to puberty. He then made his live-action debut in the former's year with a guest role in an episode of Teachers as Quinn and played Travis on an episode of Disney Channel's Raven's Home. In 2018, Cantu appeared as Raymond on The Good Place. In 2019, he made one-episode appearances on the TV series Bizaardvark, Sydney to the Max and DuckTales. He voiced Winston on Middle School Moguls and appeared as Andrew on the CBS sitcom The Unicorn. He also voiced Dak on the Netflix series DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders. In 2020, he voiced Rhys on an episode of Where's Waldo?, played Elton Ortiz on AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond and provided the voice of Teia on the animated series Puppy Dog Pals. In 2021, he played Dennis Kern on an episode of The Rookie, appeared as JJ on two episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star and voiced Ensign Mainstay on the Netflix series Kid Cosmic. In 2022, he voiced Smooth Jason and Wrinkly on the Netflix show Oddballs. His most recent 2023 roles include Barry in the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, Otto in the Disney Channel animated TV series Hailey's On It! and Charlie in the Netflix animated TV series Skull Island. He voiced Leonardo in the 2024 Nickelodeon animated television series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Film
Cantu began his film career at the age of fourteen with a voice role as Curly on the 2017 Nickelodeon TV film Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.[19][20] He then starred in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans as Hark in 2022.[21][22] He auditioned for the lead role of Sammy Fabelman, but was given the role of Hark after being rejected for the role of Sammy.[23] He provided the voice of Leonardo on the 2023 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.[24]
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Cantu is a gamer.[25] On November 8, 2018, he hosted a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, California.[26]
Cantu came out as pansexual on Twitter in December 2022.[27] In November 2023, Cantu revealed he has autism and ADHD.[28]
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie | Curly (voice) | TV Movie | [29] |
| The Impossible Joy | Tomas | Short film | [30] | |
| Vikes | Joey | [31] | ||
| 2022 | The Fabelmans | Hark | [32] | |
| 2023 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | Leonardo (voice) | [33][34] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Note | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dora and Friends: Into the City! | Diego Márquez, Crocodile, Polar Bear (voice) | 2 episodes | [35] |
| 2016–2017 | Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures | Rowan Freemaker (voice) | 31 episodes | [36] |
| 2016–2018 | Future-Worm! | Paco (voice) | 6 episodes | [37] |
| Sofia the First | Prince James (voice) | 14 episodes | [38][39] | |
| 2016–2019 | The Powerpuff Girls | Additional voices | ||
| 2017–2019 | The Amazing World of Gumball | Gumball Watterson, Humor, Anxiety, Zachariah Lopez Kirby (voice) | 71 episodes | |
| 2017 | Teachers | Quinn | 1 episode | |
| Walk the Prank | Kid #1 | |||
| Raven's Home | Travis | [40][41] | ||
| 2018 | The Good Place | Raymond | ||
| 2019 | Bizaardvark | Jackson | ||
| Sydney to the Max | Dominic | |||
| DuckTales | B.O.Y.D. (voice) | [42] | ||
| Middle School Moguls | Winston (voice) | 4 episodes | ||
| 2019–2020 | The Unicorn | Andrew | ||
| DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders | Dak (voice) | 26 episodes | [42] | |
| 2020 | Where's Waldo? | Rhys (voice) | 1 episode | |
| 2020–2021 | The Walking Dead: World Beyond | Elton Ortiz | 20 episodes | [15][42][43] |
| 2020 | Puppy Dog Pals | Teia (voice) | 1 episode | |
| 2021 | The Rookie | Dennis Kern | [44] | |
| 9-1-1: Lone Star | JJ | 2 episodes | [15] | |
| 2021–2022 | Kid Cosmic | Ensign Mainstay (voice) | 2 episodes | |
| 2022 | Family Guy | High School Kid by the Bleachers (voice) | 1 episode | |
| Oddballs | Smooth Jason, Wrinkly (voice) | 2 episodes | ||
| 2023 | American Born Chinese | Barry | 2 episodes | |
| Hailey's On It! | Otto (voice) | 1 episode | ||
| Skull Island | Charlie (voice) | 8 episodes | [42][45] | |
| 2024 | Star Wars: Tales of the Empire | Dante (voice) | 1 episode | |
| 2024–present | Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Leonardo (voice) | 12 episodes | [46] |
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| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Annie Award | Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | The Amazing World of Gumball, episode "The Grades" | Nominated | [47] |
| 2019 | Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a Voice-Acting Role: Teen Artist | Sofia the First | Nominated | [48] |
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