| Nicolas Cantu | |||||
| Birth Date: | 2003 9, mf=yes | ||||
| Birth Place: | Mexico City, Mexico | ||||
| Other Names: | junky janker TheCAN2Network[1] | ||||
| Years Active: | 2014present | ||||
| Module: |
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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.
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 (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 (2020–2021)[2] [3] and as Hark in the film The Fabelmans (2022).
His YouTube channel has over 425,000 subscribers.[4]
Nicolas Cantu was born in Mexico City, Mexico[5] and raised in Austin, Texas. He is of Mexican descent; both of his parents are from Mexico City.[6] [7] His father is a lawyer, whereas his mother is a social worker.[8] Cantu is the second of three sons, having two brothers, Sebastian and Matias.[9] He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and attended Stone Oak Elementary School.[10] [11] 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.[10]
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 . 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 .[12] 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.[13] 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 . In 2020, he voiced Rhys on an episode of Where's Waldo?, played Elton Ortiz on AMC's 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 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.
Cantu began his film career at the age of fourteen with a voice role as Curly on the 2017 Nickelodeon TV film .[14] [15] He then starred in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans as Hark in 2022.[16] [17] He provided the voice of Leonardo on the 2023 film .[18]
Cantu is a gamer.[19] On November 8, 2018, he hosted a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, California.[20]
Cantu came out as pansexual on Twitter in December 2022. He is autistic and has ADHD.[21] [22]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Curly (voice) | TV Movie | [23] | ||
| 2017 | The Impossible Joy | Tomas | Short film | [24] | |
| 2017 | Vikes | Joey | [25] | ||
| 2022 | The Fabelmans | Hark | [26] | ||
| 2023 | Leonardo (voice) | [27] [28] |
| Year | Title | Role | Note | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Diego Márquez, Crocodile, Polar Bear (voice) | 2 episodes | [29] | ||
| 2016–2017 | Rowan Freemaker (voice) | 31 episodes | [30] | ||
| 2016–2018 | Future-Worm! | Paco (voice) | 6 episodes | [31] | |
| 2016–2018 | Sofia the First | Prince James (voice) | 14 episodes | [32] [33] | |
| 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 | [34] [35] | |
| 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 | [36] | |
| 2019 | Middle School Moguls | Winston (voice) | 4 episodes | ||
| 2019–2020 | The Unicorn | Andrew | |||
| 2019–2020 | Dak (voice) | 26 episodes | |||
| 2020 | Where's Waldo? | Rhys (voice) | 1 episode | ||
| 2020–2021 | Elton Ortiz | 20 episodes | [37] | ||
| 2020 | Puppy Dog Pals | Teia (voice) | 1 episode | ||
| 2021 | The Rookie | Dennis Kern | 1 episode | [38] | |
| 2021 | 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 | [39] | |
| 2024 | Star Wars: Tales of the Empire | Dante (voice) | 1 episode | ||
| 2024–present | Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Leonardo (voice) | 12 episodes | [40] |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | The Amazing World of Gumball, episode "The Grades" | [41] | |||
| 2019 | Best Performance in a Voice-Acting Role: Teen Artist | Sofia the First | [42] |