How The Good Place Lifted Manny Jacinto Out of Poverty—And Into Stardom
Hidden in Prime Video’s back catalog, The Good Place—led by Kristen Bell—did more than reinvent the afterlife sitcom; it rocketed Manny Jacinto from poverty to breakout fame, a life-altering leap he’s now unpacking in PEOPLE.
If you somehow skipped past The Good Place while scrolling Prime Video, that little gem did more than make people think about ethics between jokes. It basically changed Manny Jacinto’s life. The show took a bunch of newer faces and put them squarely on the map, and in Manny’s case, it literally helped him eat.
Before Jason: Manny was scraping by
Jacinto told People that before The Good Place, money was tight. He shared a five-bedroom house with a bunch of nurses and did whatever he could to keep the dream alive. Then he landed his audition for Jason Mendoza, and everything shifted.
'Thank goodness for that show because I was able to buy groceries.'
He’s 38 now, and the momentum from that break never really slowed down.
Why he stuck with acting
Jacinto once figured he’d end up in an office doing the engineer thing. Instead, he leaned into the chaos of acting. As he told Backstage, the industry is a roller coaster — lots of highs and lows — but if you hang on through the dips and take the leaps, doors open. That unpredictability is exactly what kept him in it.
Jason Mendoza, the sweet himbo who steadied a very weird show
The Good Place — created by Michael Schur — ran on NBC from September 19, 2016 to January 30, 2020, with Kristen Bell leading the cast. It’s a candy-coated philosophy seminar about an afterlife neighborhood where people who were 'good' are sent, until Bell’s character realizes she’s there by mistake and tries to become better. It’s funny, yes, but it also throws real moral dilemmas at you.
Jacinto’s Jason is a DJ from Jacksonville, Florida, who lives by a pure 'go with the flow' vibe. He’s not the brains of the operation, and that’s the point — the guy’s all heart. His line delivery and swagger gave the show some of its biggest laughs, and he balanced out all the existential spiraling happening around him. By the end, his empathy kind of sneaks up and wins you over.
The career that followed
Post-Good Place, Jacinto started popping up next to heavy hitters like Tom Cruise and Lindsay Lohan. The roles have been big, varied, and very intentional:
- Top Gun: Maverick — Lt Billy 'Fritz' Avalone, one of the elite fighter pilots in the legacy sequel
- Nine Perfect Strangers (TV) — Yao, the calm, resourceful staffer at a very unsettling wellness retreat
- The Acolyte (TV) — Qimir, a mysterious, morally gray Force user in the Star Wars universe
- Freakier Friday — Eric Reyes, a leading man and Lindsay Lohan’s love interest in Disney’s sequel (the title has floated around in reporting, but it’s the new Freaky Friday movie)
Where to find The Good Place now
If this has you itching for a rewatch (or a first watch), The Good Place is streaming on Peacock and Prime Video in the U.S.