Meet Manny Jacinto, the hunky Star Wars and Top Gun actor calling out Tom Cruise: the Asian-Canadian star played Jason Mendoza on The Good Place and will star in Freaky Friday 2 with Lindsay Lohan
- Despite hours of training at the gym and in fighter jets, Asian-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto was disappointed to discover all his lines had been cut from Top Gun: Maverick – but not entirely surprised
- The 36-year-old has been making waves in Disney’s Star Wars spin-off, The Acolyte, and is set to appear alongside Lindsay Lohan in next year’s Freaky Friday reboot
“It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me,” Jacinto told GQ. “Fortunately, it still was a great experience – you get to see this huge machine at work, see how Tom Cruise works, and you get to be a small part of this huge franchise.”
From his big Hollywood break and criticising Cruise, to struggling as an Asian actor in North America, here’s what you need to know about Manny Jacinto.
Manny Jacinto wants to break Asian stereotypes
Hailing from Filipino-Chinese descent and born in the Philippines, Jacinto moved to Richmond, Canada with his parents when he was three. He eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting because of the lack of opportunities for Asian actors in Canada, per an interview he did with Richmond News.
“You don’t really see a lot of dumb Asian guys on mainstream television,” he said in a 2018 interview with Vulture about his role on The Good Place. “He’s usually intelligent or the model minority. I’m not saying playing Jason is pioneering, but it’s so great for me to do because it’s not a stereotype.”