Manny Jacinto Movies and TV Shows: Full Filmography

Manny Jacinto’s career pivoted dramatically when a NBC sitcom gave him the breakout role he spent years pursuing on the dramatic side. Before 2016, Jacinto logged guest spots in Canadian crime dramas and American network TV. The Good Place turned him into a recognizable face, and from there he moved into franchise films, Star Wars, and voice work—demonstrating that Filipino-Canadian actors can navigate from character comedy into major Hollywood projects.

Breakout Role: Jason Mendoza in The Good Place · Top Movie Rating: Top Gun: Maverick (8.2) · Other Notable TV: Supernatural as Diego · Recent Mini-Series: Nine Perfect Strangers (6.9) · IMDb Known For: I Want You Back (6.5)

What is Manny Jacinto famous for?

Manny Jacinto is best known for his four-season run as Jason Mendoza in NBC’s The Good Place, a role he was cast in on March 3, 2016. His character was a Filipino American amateur DJ and drug dealer from Jacksonville, Florida, who enters the afterlife and spends most of the series impersonating a Taiwanese monk named Jianyu Li. The role quickly became a fan favorite, earning Jacinto recognition far beyond his prior guest appearances in Canadian productions.

Breakout TV role

• The Romeo Section — triads crime boss, Leo Award nominee (2014–2016)
• The 100 (The CW, 2014–) — guest role (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Rogue (Audience Network, 2013–2017) — guest role (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Bates Motel (A&E, 2013–2017) — guest role (Rotten Tomatoes)
• iZombie (The CW, 2015–) — guest role (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Wayward Pines (Fox, 2015–2016) — guest role (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Brand New Cherry Flavor — Netflix miniseries, main role, released August 13, 2021 (Wikipedia)
• The Good Doctor — guest role as Bobby Ato (Rotten Tomatoes)
• The Acolyte — Star Wars series (2024), Stranger/Qimir (Wikipedia)
• Hailey’s On It! — Disney Channel (June 2023 premiere), voice of Scott (Wikipedia)

Major film appearances

Jacinto appeared in films including Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) as Waring “Wade” Espiritu (Dubbing Wikia), Belle (2021/2022) as Shinobu, and I Want You Back (2022) as Logan (Fandango). He voiced Kenshi Takahashi in Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022) and Scott in Disney Channel’s Hailey’s On It!, which premiered in June 2023. He also voiced Lucan in the Marigold Breach podcast (2022).

The pattern is clear: Jacinto’s Jason Mendoza role and his work in high-profile franchise projects like Top Gun: Maverick have given him a profile that far exceeds his pre-2016 guest-appearance career. For readers wanting to start exploring his work, The Good Place—especially seasons 3 and 4, where his character gets the most development—is the obvious entry point.

Was Manny Jacinto cut from Top Gun?

Jacinto had a minor role as Lieutenant Billy “Fritz” Avalone in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), and all his dialogue was reportedly cut during reshoots. He was cast in September 2018, roughly midway through filming The Good Place’s third season (Wikipedia). He filmed his Top Gun scenes before The Good Place wrapped in 2020, and the film was released in 2022—three years after he shot his part.

Role in Top Gun: Maverick

Despite having his lines removed, Jacinto remained credited in the final cut and appears on screen in background moments. His IMDb profile (Fandango) confirms Lt. Billy “Fritz” Avalone as his credited role. Jacinto has spoken publicly about the experience of having his work cut, noting how quickly his career moved from television guest spots to landing a role in one of the most anticipated theatrical releases in years.

Reflections on cut lines

Jacinto has addressed the Top Gun experience in interviews, describing it as part of the realities of blockbuster filmmaking where reshoots can eliminate entire character threads. Being part of such a high-profile production, even in a reduced capacity, signaled the kind of projects now available to him post-The Good Place. For viewers, Top Gun: Maverick is worth watching for the overall spectacle and aerial sequences—but Jacinto’s specific contribution is hard to pin down in the final cut.

For readers looking to explore his feature film work, Top Gun: Maverick is most notable as a marker of his rising profile rather than a showcase of his abilities. His IMDb profile (Fandango) tracks all credited appearances across film and television.

Is Manny Jacinto in The Good Doctor?

Yes. Manny Jacinto appeared as Bobby Ato in The Good Doctor, the ABC medical drama that premiered in 2017 (Rotten Tomatoes). This was a guest appearance, not a recurring role, fitting the pattern of small supporting parts that characterized much of his career before The Good Place.

Character played

As Bobby Ato, Jacinto played a supporting character in what is now one of ABC’s longest-running medical dramas. The Good Doctor has been critically noted for its portrayal of autism through the character of Dr. Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore, though Jacinto’s specific scenes are not part of that central storyline.

Episode appearances

The appearance was a one-off guest role, consistent with Jacinto’s early career pattern of episodic credits rather than recurring series commitments. His IMDb profile (Fandango) lists this among dozens of similar guest appearances across network television.

The pattern suggests that guest appearances across network drama genres built the improvisational toolkit Jacinto later deployed as Jason Mendoza.

Who did Manny Jacinto play in Supernatural?

Jacinto played Diego in Supernatural (Rotten Tomatoes), the long-running The WB series that aired from 2005 through 2020. His appearance falls into the guest-actor category alongside dozens of similar brief credits he accumulated before his career breakthrough.

Episode role

Diego was a single-appearance character, consistent with the structure of Supernatural, which regularly introduced new faces for one-off plots involving the Winchester brothers’ investigations. Jacinto’s specific episode involvement falls within his pre-2016 guest appearance period.

Character background

Detailed character background for Diego is limited in publicly available sources, and Jacinto’s own interviews have focused on other roles. The credit is confirmed on Rotten Tomatoes (Rotten Tomatoes) and corroborated by his IMDb profile, though the exact episode and narrative context are not well-documented in mainstream filmography sources.

Early guest roles in established franchises built visibility that paid dividends once sitcom casting directors took notice.

What other movies and TV shows has Manny Jacinto appeared in?

Jacinto’s filmography spans television, film, and voice work over more than a decade. His early Canadian productions included Rogue (Audience Network, 2013–2017), The 100 (The CW, 2014–), Bates Motel (A&E, 2013–2017), iZombie (The CW, 2015–), and Wayward Pines (Fox, 2015–2016). His first film role was as Street Kid in John Apple Jack (2013), per Wikipedia.

Film credits

• John Apple Jack (2013) — Street Kid (debut film role) (Wikipedia)
• Dead Rising: Watchtower (2015) — Desk Soldier (Wikipedia)
• Even Lambs Have Teeth (2015) — Vince (Wikipedia)
• Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) — Waring “Wade” Espiritu (Dubbing Wikia)
• Belle (2021/2022) — Shinobu (Fandango)
• I Want You Back (2022) — Logan (Fandango)
• Top Gun: Maverick (2022) — Lt. Billy “Fritz” Avalone (Wikipedia)
• Cora Bora (2023/2024) — role (Fandango)
• Freakier Friday (2025) — Eric Reyes (Rotten Tomatoes)
• The Knife (2024/2025) — Officer Padilla (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Balestra (2024) — Elliot (Rotten Tomatoes)
• Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022) — voice of Kenshi Takahashi (Fandango)
• Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol (2025) — voice of Renato (Rotten Tomatoes)

Jacinto also voiced Lucan in the Marigold Breach podcast (2022) and appeared in Nine Perfect Strangers (2021) as Yao on Hulu—a project that placed him in the company of a high-profile ensemble cast including Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy.