Dante Basco Shares How Working on Moesha Helped His Career
Dante Basco recently shared how being on Moesha helped his career. The beloved Hook and Avatar: [...]
Dante Basco recently shared how being on Moesha helped his career. The beloved Hook and Avatar: The Last Airbender actor sat down with Comicbook.com to talk about his latest project, Artificial on Twitch. But, in talking about his career, Basco had some really kind words to say about the time he spent on set with Brandy and a young Usher during his time on the sitcom. With Moesha joining a host of other classics headed to Netflix, it seems we're due for a resurgence of those wonderful shows in the popular consciousness. Basco laments the fact that we don't have more shows like that, telling a variety of stories on television right now.
CB: So you were in Moesha, right? For a little bit. How was that experience being with Brandy and the rest of the cast?
"I loved it. I mean Brandy, shout out to B. Brandy is a superstar and has been since very young. And I've always had love and respect for her. From her music to doing the show. And then I got to work, back in those days, with Usher, Young Ush. We got to bond and hang out," Basco remembered. "Do you remember that season that moved Brandy to a white school? And me and Usher were like the two ethnic dudes at the white school. The fans wanted her, ultimately, to go back to Leimert Park and go to the black school so that was the end of that gig.
"But being around a bunch of producers and being on that set. You know, in Hollywood, even to this day, there's Black Hollywood, and I was one of the only Asians. Now there's an Asian Hollywood being created right now with John Chu and Crazy Rich Asians and that whole plethora of Asian actors doing well right now. But I grew up in Black Hollywood," he added. "I was hip-hop kid, and I'm a brown, Asian kid, and doing stuff from all the Moesha stuff to working on The Steve Harvey Show, Fresh Prince, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Biker Boyz, and Blood and Bone… That's also my world. But, working with Brandy and those cats at a very young age, and on a set that was run by African-American women was amazing."
"Also on another level, those shows and those projects helped a lot of us survive for many years. And so I'm hoping for more shows with people of color, whether it be African-American, Latino, Asian, or a mix of in our stories," Basco said. "And see not just the hood experience, but the middle-class experience, the suburban experience, the upper-class experience because it's America. What America needs today is to show more of all of our stories."
Check out Dante Basco in Artificial on Twitch, a live audience-interactive scripted sci-fi series following an A.I. being on a journey to become human. It airs every Thurs. at 5pm PT / 8pm ET on Twitch. (Check out the show page here.)
Are you hype to see Moesha and those other sitcoms hit Netflix soon? Let us know down in the comments!
