‘The Good Place’ star Manny Jacinto reflects on show’s impact on career
The Good Place catapulted Manny Jacinto’s fate.
Jacinto played Jason Mendoza from 2016 to 2020 on the acclaimed NBC comedy, which he thanks for his success in Hollywood.
The show saw him work alongside Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, D’Arcy Carden, and Jameela Jamil.
Since The Good Place, Jacinto has gone on to star in Star Wars: The Acolyte, Top Gun: Maverick, Nine Perfect Strangers, and a major role in Freakier Friday alongside Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Manny in ‘The Good Place’ alongside William Jackson Harper, Kristen Bell, and Jameela Jamil
“Thank goodness for that show because I was able to buy groceries,” he told People, adding that he “never would’ve thought” that he’d get major roles in Hollywood.
Before landing the role, he was “living in a five-bedroom house with a bunch of nurses and just trying to make it work,” and it became “a fight to survive at that point.”
“When that audition came through and when I was able to get that — it changed my life, it really did,” he recalled.
He gushed over the experience of making the show and meeting lead stars for the first time.
“Getting to work with Ted for the first time, meeting Kristen and all the babies in the crew — whether it be Jameela or D’Arcy and Will,” said Jacinto.
“Just being on the lot in Universal and seeing the trams go by, so many special moments,” Manny Jacinto added.
