Ryan Potter (born September 12, 1995) is an American actor and voice actor. He made his acting debut as the lead of the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

action comedy series ''

Supah Ninjas ''Supah Ninjas'' is an American action superhero teen sitcom, created by Leo Chu and Eric Garcia. The series aired on Nickelodeon from January 17, 2011, to April 27, 2013. It ran for 2 seasons. The first season was filmed in Los Angeles and the ...

'' (2011–2013). As a voice actor, he voiced

Hiro Hamada Hiro Takachiho is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. His first appearance was in ''Sunfire & Big Hero 6'' #1 and was created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau. The character is known as Hiro H ...

in the animated superhero film '' Big Hero 6'' (2014), its television series sequel (2017–2021) and the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

series '' Baymax!'' (2022). Potter also portrays Gar Logan / Beast Boy on the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

superhero series ''

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Ga ...

'' (2018–present).

Early life

Potter was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

on September 12, 1995. His mother, Jordanna Potter-Lew, is

Jewish American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...

and his father is Japanese. He uses his mother's maiden name. He was raised in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, until returning to the United States when he was seven. He was raised by his single mother. Potter's

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

was Japanese; however, he is no longer fluent. At the age of eight, he began studying White Tiger kung fu, a discipline which he would continue to pursue throughout his teenage years. Other childhood interests reportedly included baseball, skateboarding, and playing the drums. His stepfather is martial artist and stunt legend

James Lew James Jene Fae Lew (born September 6, 1952) is an American actor and martial artist. He has made 80 on-screen film and television appearances and 46 more as a stunt coordinator or stunt double. He has done choreography for movies like ''Get Smart ...

Career

In 2010, Potter began his acting career at the age of 15 when he received a leaflet in his kung fu class announcing

was looking for teenagers to star in a new martial-arts themed program entitled ''

''. After a few days of considering an acting career, Potter decided to audition, eventually landing the series' lead role of Mike Fukanaga, a typical American teen who discovers he is a descendant from a long line of

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

s. In March 2012, Nickelodeon announced it had renewed ''Supah Ninjas'' for a second season. Following the premiere of ''Supah Ninjas'' in January 2011, he became one of Nickelodeon's popular young stars, featured in numerous teen magazines and making personal appearances in the network's special ''Nickelodeon's Worldwide Day of Play'' and its reboot of ''

Figure It Out ''Figure It Out'' is an American children's panel game show that aired on Nickelodeon. The original series, hosted by Summer Sanders, ran for four seasons from July 7, 1997, to December 12, 1999. The show was revived in 2012, with Jeff Sutphen ...

'', as well as an appearance on its sister network's broadcast of the 2011

TeenNick HALO Awards The Nickelodeon HALO Awards was a yearly TV special that aired originally on TeenNick but later expanded to Nickelodeon and Nicktoons in its final years. Usually aired every December, the awards profiled five ordinary teens who are Helping And Le ...

. In March 2012, Potter began a recurring role on '' Fred: The Show'', portraying Fred's best friend. Potter later voiced '' Big Hero 6'' protagonist

and reprised his role in the animated series based on the film and ''

Kingdom Hearts III is a 2019 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. It is the twelfth installment in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, and serves as a conclusion of the ...

''. Potter was also lobbying for the role of

Tim Drake Timothy Jackson "Tim" Drake is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Created by Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick, he first appeared in Batman: Year Three, ''Batman' ...

and created a concept fight scene using the character's signature

bō A ''bō'' (棒: ぼう), ''bong'' (Korean), ''pang'' (Cantonese), ''bang'' (Mandarin), or ''kun'' (Okinawan) is a staff weapon used in Okinawa. ''Bō'' are typically around and used in Okinawan martial arts, while being adopted into Japanese ar ...

staff as an audition. He ended the video with a plea to Ben Affleck to cast him as Robin. He was then cast as Beast Boy (or Garfield "Gar" Logan) in Warner Bros.'s live-action Titans series. Since 2020, he has been the voice of wealthy camper Kenji Kon in '' Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous''.

Advocacy

In 2011, Potter founded the organization Toy Box of Hope, a charity which holds an annual holiday collection drive for children in homeless shelters and transitional living facilities in the Los Angeles area. During the second annual event in 2012, Potter spoke of the focus of the organization, stating " at we want to do is provide bedsheets, jackets and toys to omeless shelters so these kids are like, 'Wow, someone cares, there's hope.'" In 2012, Potter was reportedly planning to expand Toy Box of Hope to include a "Birthday Party Box" program. In June 2012, Potter became one of the youngest celebrities to lend his voice to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

's No H8 Campaign in support of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. When explaining his involvement, 16-year-old Potter stated, "I know what it feels like to be bullied. And I will not tolerate the thought of anyone, for any reason, being bullied. It starts with young people, and it can end with young people. As we learn to embrace our diversity, we become stronger, more tolerant. The differences are beautiful. The differences matter. It's what makes life an adventure."

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series and music videos

Audio

Video games

References

External links

*
Ryan Potter
at

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Ryan 1995 births Living people American male child actors American male television actors American male voice actors American martial artists American people of English descent American people of German descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Swedish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American male actors of Japanese descent Jewish American male actors American expatriates in Japan LGBT rights activists from the United States Male actors from Portland, Oregon 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American Jews