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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. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn my head, I was going to come here a few times,\u201d says Jacinto, who grew up in Richmond, Canada. \u201cI 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.<\/p>\n But just a few months after relocating to L.A. in 2016, he nabbed a starring role in NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Good Place,\u201d alongside Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, and \u201cit just changed my life,\u201d says Jacinto, who played the lovable but not-so-bright Jason Mendoza<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since that breakout performance, Jacinto has racked up several more acting credits including \u201cNine Perfect Strangers,\u201d \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d and \u201cThe Acolyte<\/a>.\u201d His latest film, \u201cFreakier Friday<\/a>\u201d \u2014 the sequel to the hit 2003 film \u2014 hits theaters today. <\/p>\n \u201cLittle Manny, who was waking up on a Sunday [and] watching cartoons, would have never thought he\u2019d be acting opposite Jamie Lee Curtis<\/a> and Lindsay Lohan,\u201d says Jacinto, who plays Eric Reyes, Lohan\u2019s British fianc\u00e9 in the film.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n 9 a.m.: Wake up and meditate <\/b> 11 a.m.: Work up a sweat <\/b> 1 p.m.: Find the best sandwich in L.A.<\/b> 3 p.m.: Sip on boba at the park <\/b> 7 p.m.: A meal that \u2018reminds me a bit of home\u2019<\/b> <\/a> <\/p>\n
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Ideally, I\u2019d get up at 9 a.m. to get enough enough sleep, but also get some things done for the day. I\u2019ll try to meditate for 10 minutes using the Calm app or just by myself. I typically don\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n
I will try and hit up some sort of workout class to get my body active. I\u2019ve been going to this place in Glassell Park called Ganbatte Fitness<\/b><\/a> and it\u2019s a good community of people. It\u2019s also Asian-owned and it kicks my butt. It\u2019s probably the hardest workout that I\u2019ve ever done in my life \u2014 not even just in L.A., like around the world. Or I\u2019ll hit up a hot yoga class. CorePower<\/b><\/a> is always a go-to. I\u2019ll do the C2 hot power yoga class and get my sweat in. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Afterward, I\u2019d have my first proper meal. For some reason, I\u2019ve been scouring L.A. for the best sandwich spots. I\u2019ve ran into a few. One of them is Mamie<\/b><\/a>. It\u2019s an Italian sandwich spot in West Hollywood. The last sandwich that I had is the Viale Di Parma, which has fig jam. It\u2019s really good. There\u2019s also Bodega Park<\/b><\/a> [near] Silver Lake. Their spicy chicken Caesar is solid. Then there\u2019s a place in Frogtown called Wax Paper<\/b><\/a> and it\u2019s basically in a shipping container on a corner of the street. They have really solid sandwiches. <\/p>\n
We might do some retail therapy. There\u2019s this store in Silver Lake that I found called Anonymous Ism<\/b><\/a>. They have a lot of Japanese clothing, just a lot of unique and quality pieces that you don\u2019t really see often. If I\u2019m not doing that, I\u2019ll 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<\/b><\/a>. That would be our afternoon chill out time. We haven\u2019t 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\u2019ll definitely be back. We\u2019d get boba from Bopomofo Cafe<\/b><\/a> and I always get the strawberry corn milk. Some people think it\u2019s weird because of the corn, but it reminds me of a Filipino or Vietnamese dessert. <\/p>\n
It feels like I\u2019m just eating constantly, but I love an early dinner so we\u2019d have dinner with friends after the park. I really love this place called Lasita<\/b><\/a> in Chinatown. They\u2019re really good people, there\u2019s really great vibes and the food is always on point. Because I\u2019m Filipino and it\u2019s 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\u2019d go to one of my other favorite restaurants, which is Majordomo<\/b><\/a> in the Arts District. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n