Ricardo Antonio Hoyos, Jr. (born November 27, 1995) is a Canadian actor. He joined the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation for the eleventh season as Zig Novak and starred in the sequel series Degrassi: Next Class on Netflix.[1] He has also starred in the children's television series Dino Dan.[1]
Hoyos was born in Alliston, Ontario to an Ecuadorian father and a Canadian mother. He is the older brother of actor Lucius Hoyos.[2] His mother has Irish ancestry.[3]
At the age of twelve, Hoyos began his professional acting career as a child actor in 2007, when he appeared in episodic roles in the television shows: 'Til Death Do Us Part, Good Morning World, The Rick Mercer Report, Super Why!, Haven, The Haunting Hour: The Series, Life with Boys, Flower Shop Mysteries, Raising Expectations, Killjoys, Love Daily and Riverdale. He also has appeared in the films: Outlander and The Belko Experiment.
Hoyos made his film debut in the 2007 television film The Secret of the Nutcracker directed by Eric Till, portraying Sasha.[4]
Hoyos played the role of Jacob in the anthology film Toronto Stories, which was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2008 and was released on December 12, 2008.[5]
In 2010, Hoyos played the recurring role of Ricardo Sanchez in the children's television series Dino Dan.
In 2012, Hoyos played the voice role of Apex in the animated series Redakai: Conquer the Kairu.
From 2012 to 2015, Hoyos was cast in the role of Zig Novak in the teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. He reprised his role in the television sequels Degrassi: Minis and Degrassi: Next Class. Repeated his role in 2015 in the special movie for television Degrassi: Don't Look Back.[6]
In 2016, Hoyos played the role of Jack Diaz in comedy film Sadie's Last Days on Earth opposite Morgan Taylor Campbell, Clark Backo, Munro Chambers and Paula Brancati.[7]
In 2017, Hoyos starred along with Vivica A. Fox, Lesli Kay and Victoria Konefal in the 2017 television film The Wrong Crush directed by David DeCoteau, portraying Jake Jericho.[8] On the same year, Hoyos played the role of Luke Wyler in the supernatural horror film Truth or Dare directed by Nick Simon, which was released on OCtober 8, 2017.[9]
In 2018, Hoyos appeared in the sci-fi action film Bumblebee directed by Travis Knight, based on the Hasbro's Transformers toy line character of the same name, in which he played the role of Tripp Summers.[10][11]