Manny_Jacinto

Manny Jacinto

Manny Jacinto

Canadian actor (born 1986/1987)


Manuel Luis Jacinto[1] (/əˈsɪnt/ jə-SIN-toh;[2] born 1986 or 1987[3]) is a Canadian actor. After several small roles on television, his breakout role came as Jason Mendoza on the NBC sitcom The Good Place (2016–2020).

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Jacinto has appeared as Waring "Wade" Espiritu in the neo-noir thriller film Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) and as Fritz in the action drama film Top Gun: Maverick (2022). He also provides the voice of Scott Denoga in the Disney Channel animated series Hailey's On It! (2023–present).

Early life

Jacinto was born in Manila, Philippines,[4][5] and is of Filipino-Chinese descent.[5][6] His family immigrated to Canada in 1990,[7] when he was about three years old.[8] He was raised in Richmond, British Columbia.[4] He grew up playing baseball[3] and basketball,[9] and attended an all-boys Catholic high school, Vancouver College.[3][10]

He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia.[3][11][12]

Career

While interning, Jacinto participated in hip-hop dance competitions[13] before deciding on acting as a career.[4][8] He became frustrated by the lack of prominent Asian actors in Vancouver's film community and moved to Los Angeles.[14]

After small roles in series including Once Upon a Time, Supernatural and iZombie, he was cast in 2015 as triad leader Wing Lei in the Canadian spy drama The Romeo Section by Chris Haddock. The role won him a Leo Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a Dramatic Series.[15]

In 2016, Jacinto was cast as Jason Mendoza in the NBC comedy The Good Place.[16] He received favourable reviews for his performance as Mendoza, an EDM-obsessed "lovable doofus" from Jacksonville, Florida, going against stereotypes of how Asian men are often portrayed in Hollywood.[17][18][19][20]

In September 2018, Jacinto was cast in the Top Gun sequel Top Gun: Maverick, starring Tom Cruise.[21]

In November 2019, it was announced that Jacinto would have a main role on the Netflix horror drama miniseries Brand New Cherry Flavor.[22] It was released on August 13, 2021.[23]

In November 2021, it was announced that Jacinto would voice Scott in the animated comedy-adventure series Hailey's On It!, which premiered in June 2023 on Disney Channel.[24]

In 2022, Jacinto voiced Lucan in the eight-episode sci-fi podcast Marigold Breach, alongside his Good Place co-star Jameela Jamil.[25]

Personal life

In November 2019, Jacinto announced that he was engaged to Canadian actress Dianne Doan.[26] He lives in Los Angeles.[27]

Filmography

Key
Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

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Television

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Awards and nominations

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References

  1. "Manny Jacinto". TV Guide. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  2. "Full Interview || Character Conversations: Tan France & Manny Jacinto". Character Media. February 4, 2019. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  3. Hoekstra, Matthew (September 23, 2014). "20 questions with Manny Jacinto". Richmond Review. Richmond, British Columbia. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2018. The 27-year-old...
  4. "The Romeo Section Cast: Manny Jacinto". Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  5. Quadra-Balibay, Aurora (September 26, 2019). "Manny Jacinto to star alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick". Good News Pilipinas. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  6. "Manny Jacinto's Comforting Escape". Bustle. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  7. Chavez, Yong (December 7, 2016). "Manny Jacinto on 'The Good Place'". ABS-CBN News. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  8. "Manny Jacinto on The Good Place". Balitang America. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  9. Nguyen, Kevin (February 1, 2018). "Manny Jacinto Is No Dummy—He Just Plays One on 'The Good Place'". GQ. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  10. "Manny Jacinto – The Good Place". Starry Constellation Magazine. October 5, 2017. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  11. Soloski, Alexis (November 22, 2019). "Manny Jacinto of 'The Good Place' Plummets to Earth". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  12. "Manny Jacinto of 'The Good Place' puts a lot of thought into lovable dummy Jason Mendoza". Los Angeles Times. May 8, 2019. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  13. Raphael, Philip. "Engineering a career in show business". Richmond News. Richmond, British Columbia. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  14. "Manny Jacinto is No Dummy—He Just Plays One on 'The Good Place'". February 2018. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  15. "Manny Jacinto". NBCUniversal. Archived from the original on August 11, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  16. Petski, Denise (March 3, 2016). "Good Place NBC comedy series casts Manny Jacinto; Julie Goldman joins ABC's Weeks/Mackay Project". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  17. "'You never see a dumb Asian on network television': The Good Place's Manny Jacinto on playing against type". CBC Radio. July 23, 2018. Archived from the original on November 12, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  18. Grubb, Brian (January 11, 2018). "Jason Mendoza From 'The Good Place' Is The Best Doofus On Television". Uproxx. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2018. Note: Archive requires scrooldown.
  19. Mathews, Liam (September 29, 2016). "The Good Place Just Found Its Tom Haverford". TV Guide. Archived from the original on November 29, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  20. Hwang, Sora (Spring 2017). "The Good Place's Manny Jacinto on Playing a Non-Stereotypical Asian Role". Mochi. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  21. D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 27, 2018). "'Top Gun: Maverick' Taps 'The Good Place's Manny Jacinto For Pilot Duty". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  22. Cordero, Rosy (July 19, 2021). "Rosa Salazar Goes Dark In Netflix's 'Brand New Cherry Flavor' Teaser Trailer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  23. "The Good Place's Manny Jacinto Engaged to Longtime Girlfriend Dianne Doan". PEOPLE.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
  24. Morales, Nicole Limos (March 8, 2019). "Manny Jacinto Is Definitely in a Good Place: The Filipino-Born Actor on His Journey to Hollywood". Town & Country. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019. I moved to Los Angeles because of the show [The Good Place] when Vancouver was my home, so that was a huge change.
  25. "Fox Heavy Hitters Celebrate Drew Goddard's 'Bad Times at the El Royale'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  26. "Mamoru Hosoda's Belle Film Reveals English Trailer, Dub Cast". Anime News Network. December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.

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