Nicolas Cantu

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Nicolas Cantu (born September 8, 2003), also known by his internet pseudonyms Junky Janker and TheCAN2Network, is a Mexican-born American actor and former YouTuber and 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 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) and its Nickelodeon television adaptation Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024). His other notable voice roles include Rowan Freemaker on the Disney XD computer-animated TV series Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures (2016-2017), the third voice of Prince James on the Disney Junior animated TV series Sofia the First (2016-2018), and Dak on the Netflix computer-animated series DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders (2019-2020). Cantu is also known for his live-action roles, starring as Elton Ortiz in the AMC television series The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020–2021), as Hark in the film The Fabelmans (2022), and as Marcel in the Amazon Prime Video television series Motorheads (2025).

His YouTube channel has over 411,000 subscribers.

Early life Nicolas Cantu was born on September 8, 2003, in Mexico City, Mexico. He is of Mexican descent; both of his parents are from Mexico City. His father is a lawyer and his mother is a social worker. Cantu is the second of three sons. He grew up in San Antonio, Texas and attended Stone Oak Elementary School. He moved to Los Angeles, California when he was 10 years old to pursue his acting career. Cantu eventually moved back to San Antonio in 2022. , AT&T , and Old Navy , as well as one for the San Antonio Spurs.

Television

He began his acting career at the age of twelve with a 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. 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. 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. In 2024, he guest voiced Dante in Star Wars: Tales of the Empire and Rubin in Dream Productions, both of which were released and streamed on Disney+, as well as voicing Leonardo in the Nickelodeon animated television series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, reprising his role from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. In 2025, he voiced Tommy in Adult Swim's Common Side Effects, and returned to live-action by portraying Marcel Crawford on Amazon Prime Video's Motorheads.

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. He then starred in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans as Hark in 2022. He provided the voice of Leonardo on the 2023 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. On November 8, 2018, he hosted a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, California.

Cantu identifies as pansexual.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes Ref 2017 Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie Curly (voice) Television film The Impossible Joy Tomas Short film Vikes Joey 2022 The Fabelmans Hark 2023 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Leonardo (voice) 2027Untitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sequel

Television Year Title Role Note Ref 2016 Dora and Friends: Into the City! Diego Márquez, Crocodile, Polar Bear (voice) 2 episodes 2016–17 Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures Rowan Freemaker (voice) 31 episodes Sofia the First Prince James (voice) 14 episodes 2018 The Good Place Raymond 2019 Bizaardvark Jackson Sydney to the Max Dominic DuckTales B.O.Y.D. (voice) 2021 The Rookie Dennis Kern 1 episode 9-1-1: Lone Star JJ 2 episodes 2024 Star Wars: Tales of the Empire Dante (voice) 1 episode Dream Productions Rubin (voice) Episode: "Part 3: Romance!" 2019 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Voice-Acting Role: Teen Artist Sofia the First