Following his inner voice to stardom
Vancouver’s Jacinto teams with Kidman on ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’
When Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto made the move from Vancouver to Los Angeles, he never dreamed of starring on a show alongside Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy.
The Manila-born, Vancouverraised actor, best known for his role as Jason Mendoza on the NBC comedy “The Good Place,” has always followed the voice inside him.
He pursued an engineering degree at the University of British Columbia before becoming a dancer with a hip-hop dance troupe. “Performing was never really a part of my aspirations or anything, but when I got a taste of it, I couldn’t let it go,” he says. “I went down the rabbit hole.”
In order to improve his dance performance, he took acting classes and got hooked on the acting bug. He took the risk of moving from Vancouver to Los Angeles and did anything and everything that came his way, from small film projects to jobs posted on Craigslist.
“I had my blinders on, and you just push and try to see how far you can get,” he says. “It’s just all these little risks that you take that you hope will pay off, and then you end up on a show with Nicole Kidman somehow.”
Jacinto is referring to his role on the Hulu series “Nine Perfect Strangers,” streaming on Amazon Prime Video and based on the New York Times bestselling book by Liane Moriarty, who also wrote “Big Little Lies.”
The eight-episode series, produced by the team behind “Big Little Lies,” follows nine guests as they check into a deluxe holistic wellness retreat spa called Tranquillum House, run by Russian-born Masha (Kidman). Her unorthodox methods hide her evil treatment plans for her clients, who are expecting a profound change in their life. Rounding up the starstudded cast are McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Bobby Cannavale, Regina Hall, Luke Evans and Samara Weaving.
Jacinto plays the role of Yao, the right-hand man to Masha at her retreat. The actor had nothing but praise for onscreen partner.
“It could be intimidating at first, because it’s Nicole Kidman. Right off the bat when I first met her, she’s just like a regular human being. And if anything, actually pretty shy and just super grounded.
“She’s a very open, vulnerable scene partner … open to criticisms, open to playing around and being very playful, especially as that character. We have such a tight relationship as Yao and Masha that we needed that,” Jacinto says. “You can’t help but separate the stardom of what is Nicole Kidman, but she was able to do that right off the bat by just being present and being open with me.”
As much as Jacinto loved playing Mendoza for four years on “The Good Place,” he wanted to try other kinds of roles, be it drama, action or rom-com, to avoid being typecast.
His role on “Nine Perfect Strangers” came at the right time and offered him just that. “Jonathan Levine (series director) and David E. Kelly (writer and co-creator) were able to trust me with such a grounded and more straightforward character. It has its own different challenges, but it’s still a rewarding experience.”
Jacinto’s Yao acts as the moral compass, fully aware of Masha’s unorthodox methods. The show has an underlying theme of exploring one’s soul-searching journey, often posing the question of life’s deeper meanings.
These profound moments of inner conflict are not lost on Jacinto.
“When I get into a character, I try to dive into it as much of it as possible,” he says. “So whether it be listening to podcasts about self enlightenment or reading books on identity and self improvement, I myself can’t help but try and think of it constantly, or lose sleep over it and question whether or not what we’re doing at Tranquillum as Yao is correct, or whether it isn’t.”
Jacinto is humbled by how far he’s come and doesn’t let this wave of success get to him. Whenever he lands back home in Vancouver, he remembers how long his journey has been and hopes it keeps going.
“I definitely always had these nostalgic pinch-me moments, for sure, and it helped. I think that helps me be more grounded and not let my ego get the best of me,” he says.
With the recent conversations surrounding Asian representation onscreen, Jacinto has also been vocal about his desire to see more Asians in Hollywood.
“There’s definitely a gradual shift because not just actors, but creators, directors, producers, writers, maybe around my age or younger, they want to tell their own stories,” he says.
“There’s a notion that we can have more Asian faces on screen. So I’m very hopeful for it. I always say that I hope that it’s not just a moment or a blip in the timeline of this Hollywood industry. I hope that it’s an exponential growth in terms of what we can see on screen.”
Jacinto has a whole stack of highly anticipated projects coming up. He stars in the recently released Netflix supernatural thriller series “Brand New Cherry Flavor” and in the upcoming film “Top Gun: Maverick” alongside Tom Cruise.