Manuel Luis Jacinto ( jə-SIN-toh or hə-SIN-toh, Filipino: [haˈsɪnto]; 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). Jacinto had minor roles in Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022), and portrayed the Stranger/"Qimir" in the Star Wars series The Acolyte (2024). He also provided the voice of Scott Denoga in the Disney Channel animated series Hailey's On It! (2023–2024). In 2025, Jacinto starred in Disney's Freakier Friday alongside Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
In 2026, Jacinto stars alongside Liza Soberano in two animated projects from Filipino filmmakers: the film Forgotten Island, and the web series Sun Chaser.
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Early life
Jacinto was born on August 19, 1987, in Manila, Philippines, and is of Filipino-Chinese descent. His family emigrated 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 Vancouver College, an all-boys Catholic high school.
He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia.
