Ryan Potter Bio
Ryan Potter (born Ryan Kenichi Hagimoto on September 12, 1995) is an American actor, voice artist, and trained martial artist. Born in Portland, Oregon, and raised for several years in Tokyo, Japan, he became a familiar face to young audiences when he was cast as the lead of the Nickelodeon action comedy series Supah Ninjas in 2011. He is widely recognized for voicing Hiro Hamada in the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Big Hero 6 (2014) and for playing the shape-shifting hero Gar Logan, also known as Beast Boy, in the DC Universe and HBO Max superhero series Titans.
Beyond his on-screen work, Potter is known for his advocacy on behalf of homeless and bullied young people, founding the charity Toy Box of Hope in 2011. He has also practiced White Tiger kung fu since childhood, a discipline that has shaped his stunt work and screen presence.
Early Life and Background
Potter was born Ryan Kenichi Hagimoto in Portland, Oregon, on September 12, 1995. His father, Keiji Hagimoto, is Japanese, and his mother, Jordanna Alex Potter-Lew, is an American with English, German, Swedish, Russian Jewish, and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Tokyo, Japan, where he was raised until just before his seventh birthday, when he returned to the United States with his mother. After the move, he was raised by his single mother and adopted her maiden name, becoming Ryan Potter.
His first language was Japanese, although he is no longer fluent in the language. At the age of eight, he began studying White Tiger kung fu, a discipline he continued to train in throughout his teenage years. Other childhood interests included baseball, skateboarding, and playing the drums. In 2014, his mother remarried Chinese-American martial artist and Hollywood stuntman James Lew, who became Potter’s stepfather.
Path to Acting
Potter began his acting career in 2010 at the age of thirteen, when he received a flyer at his kung fu class announcing that Nickelodeon was searching for teenagers to star in a new martial-arts themed program called Supah Ninjas. After a few days of consideration, he auditioned and eventually won the lead role of Mike Fukanaga, a typical American teen who discovers he is descended from a long line of ninjas. The show premiered in January 2011 and was renewed for a second season in March 2012.
Following the success of Supah Ninjas, Potter became one of Nickelodeon’s popular young stars, appearing in teen magazines and in network events such as Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play and the reboot of Figure It Out. He also made a recurring appearance on Fred: The Show, portraying the title character’s best friend. These early projects established him as a rising talent in family-oriented television and helped him transition toward larger animated and live-action roles.
Ryan Potter Career
Early Career (2011-2013)
Potter’s first major role came with Supah Ninjas, which aired on Nickelodeon from 2011 to 2013. The series gave him the chance to combine his martial arts training with acting and introduced him to a wide young audience. During this period, he also made appearances in Nickelodeon specials, the 2011 TeenNick HALO Awards, and the live-action series Fred: The Show, where he played a recurring role as Fred’s best friend.
These early projects helped Potter develop a reputation as a versatile young performer comfortable with both comedy and action. They also laid the groundwork for the bigger opportunities that would follow in feature animation and superhero television.
Breakthrough (2014-2023)
In 2014, Potter voiced Hiro Hamada, the young protagonist of the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Big Hero 6, a role that would become his most recognized work in animation. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015. He continued voicing the character of Hiro Hamada in the Big Hero 6 television series, which ran from 2017 to 2021, and later reprised the role in the Disney+ series Baymax! in 2022 and in the video game Kingdom Hearts III.
While building his voice-acting career, Potter also pursued live-action superhero work. He created a concept fight scene using the bō staff to lobby for the role of Tim Drake, ultimately challenging Ben Affleck to cast him as Robin. He was then cast as Gar Logan, also known as Beast Boy, in the DC Universe and HBO Max series Titans, a role he played from 2018 to 2023. In 2020, he joined the voice cast of the Netflix animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, voicing Kenji Kon through 2022.
Notable Works and Milestones
Potter’s signature works include the Disney animated film Big Hero 6, the Disney+ continuation Baymax!, the Nickelodeon series Supah Ninjas, the DC superhero series Titans, and the Netflix animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. His contribution to Big Hero 6 is tied to one of the most celebrated animated films of the 2010s, while his long run on Titans cemented his presence in the live-action superhero genre. In 2024, he was announced as the lead of the fan film Batman Beyond: Year One, in which he is set to portray Terry McGinnis, also known as Batman.
Ryan Potter Family
Potter was born to Keiji Hagimoto, a Japanese father, and Jordanna Alex Potter-Lew, an American mother. He was raised primarily by his mother after the family returned from Japan, and he later took her maiden name. In 2014, his mother married Chinese-American martial artist and Hollywood stunt coordinator James Lew, who became Potter’s stepfather. The family has long supported his martial arts training, which began when he was eight years old.
Personal Life
Potter is known for his long-standing commitment to advocacy work for young people. In 2011, he founded Toy Box of Hope, a charity that organizes annual holiday collection drives for children in homeless shelters and transitional living facilities in the Los Angeles area. In 2012, the organization expanded to include a planned Birthday Party Box program. That same year, Potter lent his voice to California’s No H8 Campaign in support of same-sex marriage, becoming one of the youngest celebrities to do so, and spoke publicly about his own experiences with bullying.