How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Manny Jacinto

Los Angeles Times

5 days ago

Among the herd of aspiring actors who move to Los Angeles to pursue their Hollywood dreams, Manny Jacinto was sure to set modest expectations for himself.
'In my head, I was going to come here a few times,' says Jacinto, who grew up in Richmond, Canada. 'I was going to try pilot [season] once, fail, come back next year, fail again, and I was going to repeat that pattern probably for the next five years until hopefully, fingers crossed, I landed something.'
But just a few months after relocating to L.A. in 2016, he nabbed a starring role in NBC's 'The Good Place,' alongside Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, and 'it just changed my life,' says Jacinto, who played the lovable but not-so-bright Jason Mendoza.
Since that breakout performance, Jacinto has racked up several more acting credits including 'Nine Perfect Strangers,' 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'The Acolyte.' His latest film, 'Freakier Friday' — the sequel to the hit 2003 film — hits theaters today.
'Little Manny, who was waking up on a Sunday [and] watching cartoons, would have never thought he'd be acting opposite Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan,' says Jacinto, who plays Eric Reyes, Lohan's British fiancé in the film.
We caught up with Jacinto to talk about his perfect day in L.A., which he would spend with his wife and best friend, Dianne Doan. On the agenda is an intense morning workout, dinner with loved ones at a Filipino restaurant that reminds him of home and enjoying boba at the park.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
9 a.m.: Wake up and meditate Ideally, I'd get up at 9 a.m. to get enough enough sleep, but also get some things done for the day. I'll try to meditate for 10 minutes using the Calm app or just by myself. I typically don't really eat until after 11 a.m., but if I need something in my stomach, I will make a shake. It could be as basic as protein powder, collagen and a greens powder or it can be as elaborate as all the berries, hemp seeds, beet powder and spinach.
11 a.m.: Work up a sweat I will try and hit up some sort of workout class to get my body active. I've been going to this place in Glassell Park called Ganbatte Fitness and it's a good community of people. It's also Asian-owned and it kicks my butt. It's probably the hardest workout that I've ever done in my life — not even just in L.A., like around the world. Or I'll hit up a hot yoga class. CorePower is always a go-to. I'll do the C2 hot power yoga class and get my sweat in.
1 p.m.: Find the best sandwich in L.A.Afterward, I'd have my first proper meal. For some reason, I've been scouring L.A. for the best sandwich spots. I've ran into a few. One of them is Mamie. It's an Italian sandwich spot in West Hollywood. The last sandwich that I had is the Viale Di Parma, which has fig jam. It's really good. There's also Bodega Park [near] Silver Lake. Their spicy chicken Caesar is solid. Then there's a place in Frogtown called Wax Paper and it's basically in a shipping container on a corner of the street. They have really solid sandwiches.
3 p.m.: Sip on boba at the park We might do some retail therapy. There's this store in Silver Lake that I found called Anonymous Ism. They have a lot of Japanese clothing, just a lot of unique and quality pieces that you don't really see often. If I'm not doing that, I'll go hang out at a park. Our dog, Henry, passed away in November. He, Dianne and I used to get bubble tea and hang out at Lacy Park. That would be our afternoon chill out time. We haven't been to that park in a while partly because we would really go because of Henry. It was a tough one to get over, but we'll definitely be back. We'd get boba from Bopomofo Cafe and I always get the strawberry corn milk. Some people think it's weird because of the corn, but it reminds me of a Filipino or Vietnamese dessert.
7 p.m.: A meal that 'reminds me a bit of home'It feels like I'm just eating constantly, but I love an early dinner so we'd have dinner with friends after the park. I really love this place called Lasita in Chinatown. They're really good people, there's really great vibes and the food is always on point. Because I'm Filipino and it's a Filipino restaurant, it just reminds me of a bit of home. They are always switching up the menu, but the pork belly lechon is a go-to. Either that or we'd go to one of my other favorite restaurants, which is Majordomo in the Arts District.
9 p.m.: Wind down with 'Mario Kart' I am 50 years old at heart, so I'm ready to pack it up. I love an early dinner and I love ending my night with 'Mario Kart.' It's a random thing that I started picking up during the pandemic. It's kind of like my wind down. They recently released the [Nintendo] Switch 2 and it's wild because I've been seeing all these articles saying that 'Mario Kart' is the most stressful game to play. It raises your heart rate by like 50% or something like that, but it's so calming to me just taking my mind off of things for a little bit. I usually play with Dianne or a group of friends online or people from around the world online.
11 p.m: Get some shut-eye Then we'd get into our night routine. I'll shower, cleanse, moisturize and all that stuff. I'll also do 10 minutes of red light therapy and I'll maybe meditate for a few minutes to calm myself down, then go to bed.