Manny Jacinto

Manuel Luis Jacinto ( ; born August 19, 1987) 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). He 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). Early life Jacinto was born in Manila, Philippines, and is of Filipino-Chinese descent. His family immigrated to Canada in 1990, when he was about three years old. He was raised in Richmond, British Columbia. He grew up playing baseball and basketball, and attended an all-boys Catholic high school, Vancouver College. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia. Career While interning, Jacinto participated in hip-hop dance competitions before deciding on acting as a career. He became frustrated by the lack of other Asian actors in Vancouver and moved to Los Angeles.