Nicolas Cantu

Nicolas Cantu (born September 8, 2003),[2] formerly[3] known by his internet pseudonym Junky Janker, is an American actor and YouTuber. Cantu is best known for his animation roles as Gumball in the Cartoon Network animated TV series The Amazing World of Gumball, and as Leonardo in the 2023 computer-animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.[4] In live-action, Cantu is known for starring as Elton Ortiz in the AMC television series The Walking Dead: World Beyond.[2][5] His YouTube channel has over 425,000 subscribers.[6]

Nicolas Cantu
Born (2003-09-08) September 8, 2003
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Other namesJunky Janker[lower-alpha 1]
Occupation(s)Actor, YouTuber
Years active2014–present
YouTube information
Subscribers440,000
(July 2021)
100,000 subscribers

Early life

Nicolas Cantu was born in Austin, Texas on September 8, 2003. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and attended Stone Oak elementary school.[7][8] He has two brothers.[9] He moved to Los Angeles, California when he was 10 years old in order to pursue his acting career. Cantu moved back to his home town of San Antonio, Texas in 2022.[7]

Career

Television

He began his voice acting career at the age of twelve with a guest role as Diego 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.[10] 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 reboot series The Powerpuff Girls.[11] In 2017, Cantu voiced the title character on the Cartoon Network series The Amazing World of Gumball, replacing Jacob Hopkins, starred 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 roles include American Born Chinese, Hailey's On It! and Skull Island.

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.[12][13] He then starred in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans as Hark in 2022.[14][15] He provided the voice of Leonardo on the 2023 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

Personal life

Cantu is a gamer.[16]

He is close friends with American singer, Brennley Brown.[17]

On November 8, 2018, Cantu hosted a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, California.[18]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes Ref
2017 Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie Curly (voice) TV Movie [19]
2017 The Impossible Joy Tomas Short film [20]
2017 Vikes Joey
2022 The Fabelmans Hark [21]
2023 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Leonardo (voice) [22][23]

Television
Year Title Role Note Ref
2016 Dora and Friends: Into the City! Diego Márquez (voice) 1 episode
2016–2017 Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures Rowan Freemaker (voice) 31 episodes [24]
2016–2018 Future-Worm! Paco (voice) 6 episodes [25]
2016–2018 Sofia the First Prince James (voice) 14 episodes [26][27]
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
2017 Walk the Prank Kid #1 1 episode
2017 Raven's Home Travis 1 episode [28][29]
2018 The Good Place Raymond 1 episode
2019 Bizaardvark Jackson 1 episode
2019 Sydney to the Max Dominic 1 episode
2019 DuckTales B.O.Y.D. (voice) 1 episode [30]
2019 Middle School Moguls Winston (voice) 4 episodes
2019–2020 The Unicorn Andrew
2019–2020 DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders Dak (voice) 26 episodes [30]
2020 Where's Waldo? Rhys (voice) 1 episode
2020-2021 The Walking Dead: World Beyond Elton Ortiz 20 episodes [30][31]
2020 Puppy Dog Pals Teia (voice) 1 episode
2021 The Rookie Dennis Kern 1 episode [32]
2021 9-1-1: Lone Star JJ 2 episodes
2021-2022 Kid Cosmic Ensign Mainstay (voice) 2 episodes
2022 Family Guy High School Kid by the Bleachers (voice) 1 episode
2022 Oddballs Smooth Jason, Wrinkly (voice) 2 episodes
2023 American Born Chinese Barry 2 episodes
2023 Hailey's On It! Otto (voice) 1 episode
2023 Skull Island Charlie (voice) 8 episodes [30][33]
TBA Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo (voice) [34]

Nominations
YearAwardCategoryWorkResultRef
2018Annie AwardOutstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast ProductionThe Amazing World of Gumball, episode "The Grades"Nominated[35]
2019Young Artist AwardBest Performance in a Voice-Acting Role: Teen ArtistSofia the FirstNominated[36]

References
  1. "RIP THA GOAT #KOBEYJANKER #NEWBIG #GONEFOREVERYOUWILLBEMISSED⚱️". instagram.com.
  2. Martinez, Kiko (September 15, 2022). "Actor Nicolas Cantu returns to San Antonio after 8 years". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  3. THE END OF THE LINE #NEWBIG, retrieved September 19, 2023
  4. McIntosh, Steven (July 28, 2023). "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reviews: Mutant Mayhem impresses critics". BBC Online. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  5. Pardiwalla, Tanzim (September 30, 2020). "Exclusive: 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond's Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu On Relating To Teens In A Post-Apocalyptic World". Mashable. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  6. "junky janker's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile)". Social Blade. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  7. Martinez, Kiko (August 2, 2023). "5 things to know about San Antonio actor, 'Ninja Turtles' star Nicolas Cantu". San Antonio Express-News. Hearst Newspapers, LLC. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  8. Price, Robert (December 3, 2022). "San Antonio actor makes film debut in Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans'". WOAI-TV. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  9. "Bring your #brother to work day 😎 #brotherlylove #brothers #fountain #beautifulday #california #dreamworks #project @sebastiancantuuu #nicolascantuofficial". instagram.com.
  10. "LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures Premieres June 20 on Disney XD". www.starwars.com.
  11. "San Antonio native Nicolas Cantu's character keeps developing in final season of Walking Dead spinoff". www.sacurrent.com.
  12. "Nick Titles 'Hey Arnold!' Movie Starring Original Voicers". www.animationmagazine.net.
  13. "Nickelodeon Reveals Title of the Hey Arnold! TV Movie as Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie; Original Voice Actors Return". ir.paramount.com.
  14. "'I mean, it's Steven Spielberg': Former NEISD student will star in legendary director's film". www.expressnews.com.
  15. "San Antonio actor makes film debut in Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans'". news4sanantonio.com.
  16. Cantu, Nicolas (November 2, 2020). "Walking Dead: World Beyond's Nicolas Cantu on How to Survive an Apocalypse". BUILD Series Sydney (Interview). Interviewed by Danny Clayton. Yahoo! News. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  17. "Happy #sixteen to my #sweet friend @brennleybrown 🎉🎂🎉🎂 #birthdaygirl #thevoice #celebrate #happybirthday #nicolascantuofficial". instagram.com.
  18. "Please join my friends and I on Thursday, November 8th to help raise funds benefiting the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. We will have a dine-in event happening ALL DAY at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. SWIPE RIGHT to see flyer for details. @childrensla @gunnarsizemore @andrerobinson2 @junkyjanker @noah_k_bentley #chla #childrenshospitallosangeles #fundraiser #juniorambassador #helpingkids". instagram.com.
  19. "Hey Arnold movie: Nickeloden announces title, 19 original actors returning". ew.com.
  20. "Nick Sets "Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie" for Nov. 24th Debut". www.animationscoop.com.
  21. Martinez, Kiko (November 23, 2022). "San Antonio actor Nicolas Cantu stars in Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans'". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  22. Tallerico, Brian (July 27, 2023). "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  23. "The cast #tmnt #tmntmovie 💥". instagram.com.
  24. "LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - Nicholas Cantu Interview". youtube.com.
  25. "New 'Walking Dead' Spinoff Casts Its First Three Leads". deadline.com.
  26. "World Beyond actor Nicolas Cantu in TMNT: Mutant Mayhem teaser". undeadwalking.com.
  27. "Excited to be Prince James!!#sofiathefirst #voiceoveractor #voiceactor #disneychannel #nicolascantuofficial". instagram.com.
  28. "Great times as guest star on #ravenshome with this funny and #amazing lady ❤️ @ravensymone #actors @disneychannel #funonset #lovemyjob #kidactor #disney #show #ravensfan @nicolascantoo #nicolascantuofficial". instagram.com.
  29. "Shooting an #episode for #ravenshome was #epic #disneychannel #setlife #halloween #scary #newepisode #mustwatch #happyday #funday #nicolascantuofficial". instagram.com.
  30. Kelley, Shamus (July 25, 2023). "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - Nicolas Cantu on Taking Charge as Leonardo". Den of Geek. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  31. Otterson, Joe (July 10, 2019). "New 'Walking Dead' Series Casts Three Lead Roles (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  32. "@therookieabc @abcnetwork". instagram.com.
  33. Ratcliffe, Amy (June 22, 2023). "Nerdist Watches SKULL ISLAND's First Episode with Series Star Nicolas Cantu". Nerdist. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  34. Pulliam-Moore, Charles (July 26, 2023). "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is already spawning a sequel and a spinoff series". The Verge. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  35. Flores, Terry (December 4, 2017). "'Coco' Tops 2018 Annie Awards Nominations With 13". Variety. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  36. 2019 Young Artist Academy - 40th Awards Nominations. Young Artist Award. April 20, 2019. Event occurs at 4:59. Retrieved July 29, 2023 – via YouTube.

Notes
  1. Cantu retired this alias in September 2023.[1]
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