When asked to list a few of his favorite leading men, Manny Jacinto has no problem rattling off names: Dev Patel , Pedro Pascal , Steven Yeun , his childhood favorite, Keanu Reeves . “Guys who have not only done great work, but have created work for themselves—those are the guys that I aspire to be,” says Jacinto, looking summery in a white T-shirt and baseball cap while sitting in front of a sunny window in his California home.

For a long time, Jacinto—a Canadian actor born in the Philippines—didn’t consider himself a part of this coalition. Why? “I mean, the lack of people that looked like me when I was growing up,” he says with a shrug. “Even to this day, it’s still not that easy to see people who look like me who are leading men.”

After playing lovable, dim-witted Jason

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