Manuel Luis Jacinto (born August 19, 1987) was born in Manila, Philippines, and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1990 when he was three years old. He grew up in the Richmond district of British Columbia, Canada; While he spent time on baseball and basketball fields during his childhood, he studied at Vancouver College, an all-male Catholic high school.
Jacinto, who completed his university education at the University of British Columbia, obtained a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He participated in hip-hop dance competitions during his student years, and this process helped him discover the acting side of his career. Disappointed with the limited number of Asian actors in Vancouver, Jacinto moved to Los Angeles to follow his dreams.
Jacinto, who stepped into the world of television in Los Angeles, played short characters in productions such as Once Upon a Time, Supernatural and iZombie. In 2015, he attracted attention with his role as Triad leader WingLei in Chris Haddock's Canadian spy series The Romeo Section, and this performance earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Performance at the Leo Awards.
Between 2016 and 2020, he became known to large audiences with his character JasonMendoza in NBC's popular sitcom The Good Place; this role received positive reviews regarding how Asian men are represented in Hollywood. Then, in 2018, he appeared on the movie screen as Wade Espritu in the neoโnoir thriller Bad Times at the El Royale, and in 2021 as Fritz in the movie TopGun: Maverick starring TomCruise.
In his personal life, Jacinto, who announced his engagement to the same Canadian actress Dianne Doan in November 2019, currently resides in LosAngeles.
Productions in which he took part
He took part in a total of 53 productions; 12 of the most well-known are listed.
- Supernatural (2005) โ Diego
- Conan (2010)
- Once Upon a Time (2011) โ Quon
- The Good Doctor (2017) โ Bobby Ato
- The 100 (2014) โ Boy Bullied by Murphy
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022) โ Lt. Billy 'Fritz' Avalone
- Forgotten Island (2026) โ Bungi (voice)
- Bates Motel (2013) โ Loner Guy
- Marvel Moon Girl and the giant dinosaur (2023) โ Blue Streak / Brian Glory (voice)
- The Good Place (2016) โ Jason Mendoza
- Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (2023) โ DJ Flame / Flame Prince (voice)
- iZombie (2015) โ Sammy
Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.
