How The New Host Of ‘Blue’s Clues’ Joshua Dela Cruz Is Changing The Face Of Children’s Television

After Blue’s Clues skidooed into television history after six seasons that aired from 1996 to 2006, an entire generation grew up without the excitement of mail time and the satisfaction of figuring out clues. 

But last month, the series returned to Nickelodeon as Blue’s Clues & You with a new host, 29-year-old Joshua Dela Cruz.

The Broadway veteran from New Milford, New Jersey, was hand-picked from more than 3,000 hopefuls, among them, WWE wrestler John Cena. But original Blue’s Clues host Steve Burns believed Dela Cruz was destined to don the striped shirt for the next generation.

Casting the Filipino American in the title role has been seen as a major breakthrough for diversity in children’s television, with Dela Cruz being the iconic show’s first Asian American host. 

“I never thought in a million years that anything like this would happen,” he said during our phone interview. “I used to watch the show with my little sister and never thought that I would be in television. It’s been a really humbling experience.”

Feeling Blue

Born in Dubai, Dela Cruz was introduced to the theater by his older sister when he was in the eighth grade — and after training at the Paper Mill Playhouse’s musical theater conservatory in Millburn, NJ, he went on to star on Broadway in The King & I and Aladdin.

While he loved working in the theater, he started to itch for a project that could reach wider audiences. “The problem with musical theater is that it's really expensive to see a show and to bring a family to see a show, forget about it,” he says. “I wanted to do something where I could use the gifts and skills that I had learned along the way to help people. And I didn't know what it was.”

When his agent told him about Blue’s Clues, he started reminiscing about the show with his Aladdin cast mates and realized that maybe this was the next step. “This is the thing that I was looking for,” Dela Cruz says.

But he felt the weight of responsibility. “They're such big shoes to fill since they're such important parts of people's lives and and how they grew up that I was definitely hesitant and anxious about doing a good enough job,” he admits. 

That all changed during one of the first work sessions. “Steve Burns pulled me aside and was like, ‘We cast you for you. We love everything that you're doing, everything that you bring to the table, so don't feel like you have to copy or replicate anything that I or Donovan Patton did in the past. This is your house now.’”

With that vote of confidence from the original host, Dela Cruz sunk into the role and paved his own way.

Diversity Matters

Having worked on stage all his life, the delayed audience response took some patience. Even after the first episode of Blue’s Clues & You aired on November 11, it took some time for the ratings to come and know it was doing well. But then the more impactful feedback started coming. 

“I started getting tagged in videos and friends started sending me pictures of their kids watching the show,” he describes. “They’re so immersed in it — playing along, yelling and laughing. It's been such a fulfilling experience for me in every way. And I couldn't be happier.”

But there was another level to the reaction coming from the communities that rarely see themselves on screen, especially on children’s television. “I had friends sending me texts saying, ‘My kid's pointing at the screen saying, ‘He looks like me!’’” 

And that’s what makes his role so groundbreaking. At least half of all stories across TV, movies and streaming “fail to portray one speaking or named Asian or Asian American on screen,” according to a study by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. So the fact that a show targeted at preschoolers could be anchored by Dela Cruz is nothing short of historic.

Dela Cruz himself didn’t see Asian Americans on television growing up either. “There were a handful of people that missed my generation,” he says, referring to The Wiggles’ Jeff Fatts and Sesame Street’s Alan Muraoka. “But I never experienced seeing somebody like me on TV growing up. That definitely does play a part in why maybe I never even saw myself on television — or even mainstream media.”

One of his early memories of seeing a Asian American performer was when Dante Bosco played Rufio in 1991’s Hook. “He was like a rare butterfly,” Dela Cruz says. But that lack of inclusion is exactly why he never considered a career beyond the stage, where he did at least see Asians Americans in specifically Asian-themed shows like Miss Saigon and The King & I.

Inclusion at Its Best

Oftentimes, the push for diversity leads to checklist casting — making sure every ethic group is covered, like a United Colors of Benetton ad. While it does lead to diversity on television, it can also feel forced. “I hope that we’re going to continue to evolve and grow as a society and that media will continue to reflect everyday life,” Dela Cruz says, adding that checking off the boxes might be a necessary tool to get to that point. 

What makes his role on Blue’s Clues even more unique is that they didn’t have ethnicity in mind. “To be cast in this role, without having to be specifically Filipino or Asian is so important because that is inclusion at its very best,” Dela Cruz says. “It's not like we're hiring you because we need an Asian. We're hiring you because we liked you, and you happen to be Asian which is something we're going to celebrate.”

As proof of a world that’s starting to change, he pointed to Filipino American Jacob Batalon’s role in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the mainstream acceptance of 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians and this year’s The Farewell. 

“The Farewell transcends an Asian American story where it's just about family and people,” he says of watching it. “It was very specifically a Chinese thing, but I was laughing because I could relate and my wife [actress Amanda Dela Cruz who recently starred in off-Broadway's Jersey Boys], who is Caucasian, was laughing as well because she could relate to moments in her life.”

Modern Families 

To add to the progressive nature of his role on the children’s show, his character is introduced as a “cousin” to the previous two Caucasian hosts, Burns and Patton.

“It is such a great change for our show and for America because I look at my family and everyone is Modern Family diverse,” he says.  “We're not just talking about the people that you work with, but the people that you live with. I applaud our creators and Nickelodeon for adding a layer of diversity. We're not explaining it. It wasn't a necessity, it just is.”

The advent of other ways to consume media — through web series, social media and streaming — has also opened up new doors. “Diversity and inclusion is accelerated today because there are so many ways to view it,” he adds. “People are starving for inclusion and they can find places to view it. If we continue to make good content and to challenge ourselves to create not just diverse material but good material, I think that will definitely start to change and it will definitely evolve.”

And as for those kids, who like himself, still don’t see themselves on the shows they love — or even in other fields that they hope to pursue, Dela Cruz encourages them to dream big. After all, it worked for him.

“If you love something and you work hard and are kind, when that opportunity and your preparedness meet, there is no reason that you can't be that person to open the door for everyone else,” the actor says. “Even if you don't see yourself represented, that doesn't mean anything because nobody saw themselves represented on the moon and then all of a sudden we were there.”