He made his first television appearance on YTV's reality TV competition, The Next Star, in 2012 and rose to prominence after joining the first season of The Voice Kids Philippines.

He is the first child of Filipino registered nurses Marinel Gonzales and Lyndon Espanto, who emigrated to Canada from Nueva Vizcaya province in the Philippines.

[12] At age 10, Espanto won during the Main Edition Finals of the Pinoy Singing Sensation competition in Edmonton on August 20, 2011.

In 2012, ten-year-old Espanto auditioned for the fifth season of YTV's reality television The Next Star, singing Bruno Mars' "Grenade".

[4][21] Coaches Sarah Geronimo and Bamboo Mañalac both pressed their buttons for him, vocalizing that he 'can be groomed to be a recording artist, a total package'.

[21][22] Although Espanto revealed that he was Mañalac's front act during one of his concerts in Canada, he chose Geronimo as his coach, stating that she could help him a lot in the music industry.

In the finale, during the first round which was a power ballad theme,[3] Espanto performed Basil Valdez's song "Ngayon" where he received a standing ovation.

[26] On the final round of the competition, Espanto accompanied himself with a piano during his performance of "You Are My Song" while having a duet with the original singer Martin Nievera, where received another standing ovation.

[28] In 2014, Espanto said that he will not go back to Calgary, Alberta,[29] and that he was staying in the Philippines to try acting and do a project with his coach and mentor, Sarah Geronimo.

[33] A week after, he and the other three finalists of The Voice Kids (Lyca Gairanod, Juan Karlos Labajo, and Darlene Vibares) held a concert at the Philippine International Convention Center.

On May 4, 2017, during his Twitter party, Espanto surprised his fans with a deluxe edition of his sophomore solo album entitled Be With Me, to be released the following day.

Other members of the group are Isabela Vinzon, Jayda Avanzado, Ylona Garcia, Jeremy Glinoga and Kyle Echarri.

Espanto and Viray, so called the Pair of Aces, also conducted a tour in Canada (Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto) in the latter part of the year.

This was followed by the release of "A Whole New World" on May 24, wherein he and Morissette collaborated to perform the rendition of the song as part of the Philippine promotion of the movie Aladdin as handpicked by Disney.

[43] On June 12, 2020, Espanto, in his capacity as UNDP Philippines Youth Advocate, became part of United Nations Development Programme's #Mission1Point5 climate action global campaign in coordination with The Good Co. via its social media platforms (@thegoodquote) with millions of followers worldwide.

[49] On April 18, 2021, Espanto did a homecoming production on ASAP Natin 'To where he was formally launched as "Asia's Pop Heartthrob" Darren.

On May 28, 2021, Espanto released his newest single written and produced by Zack Tabudlo with the title, "Tama Na", under MCA Music Inc. (Philippines).

On April 26, 2022, Espanto was part of the special guests of P-pop group Calista's debut concert Vax to Normal.

On June 11, 2022, Espanto is also one of Anne Curtis' guest artists in her Luv-Anne: The Comeback Concert held at the Resorts World Manila.

[54] In July 2022, Espanto was part of Vice Ganda's Fully VICE-cinated US Tour 2022 which includes performances in California, Seattle and New Jersey.

[56] The same date, the teaser for Lyric and Beat, a musical series under Dreamscape Entertainment was released which stars Espanto among the main casts.

As of 2024, It's Showtime moved to GMA Network replacing TAPE Inc.'s Tahanang Pinakamasaya before expanded it broadcast into All TV nearly two months later and Darren was introduced as one of the hosts of the show at the contract signing.

[62] On January 16, 2022, Espanto was the featured performer on the "By Request (a Benefit Concert)" series launched by ABS-CBN for the victims of Typhoon Odette, where a total of P464,000 donation was raised.

[63] Dubbed as “Asia's Pop Hearthrob” by various media outlets,[70][71][72] Espanto was the youngest artist to headline a sold-out solo major concert at MOA Arena.

[75] He has also headlined a gala at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York and performed for presidents and dignitaries during the ASEAN Summits and APEC.