The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto on being smart enough to play dumb, fears Hollywood diversity is a ‘fad’ and Jason Mendoza’s future

The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto on being smart enough to play dumb, fears Hollywood diversity is a ‘fad’ and Jason Mendoza’s future

Filipino-born actor Manny Jacinto was never going to be an actor. In fact, after being raised in a strict household by his parents, he was a fully-qualified civil engineer before he caught the acting bug and decided to give it a go.

Now, thanks to The Good Place, he’s known for being ‘the biggest dummy ever’ as Jason Mendoza, who tried to blag his way through heaven by keeping his mouth shut as Buddhist monk, Jianyu Li. But thankfully, it apparently takes someone ‘smart-brained’ to create a character that’s as lovable as he is thick.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, the 31-year-old explained: ‘I feel like Jason is maybe Manny’s child breaking out because, I guess, I had a very disciplined childhood and like, looking back I was pretty energetic and everywhere.



‘My parents, I love them to death, but they were also very strict and behaved, and that you should look proper in front of family and friends and all these people. So I guess my energy as a child was subdued so this is just that three-year-old or five-year-old Manny coming out in a sense.’


Despite his drastic career change, Manny has been eager to get his parents approval – and after years of small bit parts and roles, he finally found it in The Good Place, starring alongside Ted Danson, of Cheers fame.

Manny found acclaim as lovable dummy, Jason Mendoza (Picture: NBC)

He said: ‘I definitely cherish every moment, and it definitely was because of Ted that it made me a legitimate actor to my parents, if that makes sense. Once they found out about The Good Place and that I was working with Ted, all of a sudden it gave me some sort of legitimacy, and they actually came and visited for the first time in five years, and wanted to see what this world was about. So I thank him every day for that.’

Manny’s heritage clearly means a lot to him, and it’s something that has unwittingly come to the forefront over the past two years with his increased star level and the sudden increase in diversity in cinema. In particular, Asian-American TV and film has seen a sharp increase in its prominence. With shows like Killing Eve, and films like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians suddenly becoming global talking points in a way it wasn’t before.

It’s something he’s very careful not to take for granted.

In order to champion Asian cinema, Manny helped pay for a full screening of Crazy Rich Asians (Picture: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

‘I’m very lucky and very grateful,’ he told us. ‘Because when I started out in this industry, I needed…like I always look up to Asian-Americans, back in the day, like John Cho or Daniel Dae Kim, and it wasn’t easy for them.

‘Not to say that it’s easy for all of us now, but with the advent of social media and people able to voice their opinions more freely and quickly, that has allowed Hollywood to open its doors a little bit, or its ears a little bit, to what the world has to say and kind of what the world is actually like other than a non-diverse cast.’

Since he’s been able to, Manny has been championing the growth of Asian-centric cinema and entertainment. On the release of Crazy Rich Asians this year, he clubbed together with a group of other actors to buy out cinemas for people to go and see it for free.



He is also eager for the work to be acknowledged amid fear that, if Hollywood’s profit line takes a dip, the current growth in Asian mainstream cinema will grind to a halt.

‘I had a conversation the other day with a group of people, and we hope that this isn’t just another phase or another fad,’ he said. ‘I guess my biggest hope is that we just keep doing excellent work and so that this movement will continue to go.

The actor credits Ted Danson (centre) for lending his career choice credibility with his parents (Picture: NBC)

‘Hollywood is a big money machine and I fear that maybe being Asian, and because Crazy Rich Asians is kind of the ‘hot thing’ that…I just hope keep producing excellent work so that we can continue to push diverse stories, whether they be Asian-American, or African-American, or anything from the LGBT community.’

Manny thanks his hometown of Vancouver, Canada for providing an easier foot in the door than the world of Hollywood, but was designated to the smaller roles of ‘pizza guy’ or ‘I.T. man’ as he did so. Despite this, he believes he managed to avoid ethnical power struggles that have been prevalent within the industry.

Unfortunately, while he got away unscathed he finds it easy to recall several people that have fallen under that scrutiny. In fact, his Good Place co-star Jameela Jamil told us how she was told to say she was Latina or Black to land roles, not the Pakistani woman she unashamedly is. For Manny, he’s known some take extreme measures in order to even get in the audition room.


‘I have heard of, and have some actor friends, who have changed their name,’ he told us. ‘I guess this kind of goes across the board, because sometimes people change their names because it’s not the most attractive to other people, or it’s hard to pronounce. But I know of one guy, and he changed his name because he was always boxed into a certain ethnicity.

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‘He kind of made it more ethnically ambiguous in order to pursue more diverse roles, and different roles other than this one race. I’ve definitely run into situations like that, or heard of situations like that. Yeah, it’s definitely not easy.’

Luck well and truly landed on his doorstep when he was given the role of Jason Mendoza – a Floridian dummy who loves street dance, doing whippets, and very little else. With a heart of gold and a head of lead, he finds himself getting into trouble and breaking the law with very little guidance to tell him right from wrong.

The cast is also arguably, one of the most diverse on TV, all of its six leading cast members coming from a different background, ethnicity or age range.

‘All of his intentions and actions are all from a positive place, but it’s not always the smart decision, and it’s not always the smart decision for others around him, and I think that’s what kind of gets him in the Bad Place,’ he said.


‘I’d like to say in this season he is maybe becoming, you know, almost like with Janet, more self-aware. I think that by being around these people he is actually learning because maybe, I guess, being in Jacksonville, you’re not really exposed to a lot of culture and a lot of other people’s ideas and I’d like to hope and like to see Jason develop more. Have more consideration for others rather than his own selfish pursuits, which are all well-intended.’

‘It is a dream,’ he explained. ‘I’ve voiced this before – but I’m scared that I’d never be able to find a job like this ever again.’

The Good Place season three continues Fridays on Netflix.

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