Breakout Canadian Actor Plays the 'Bad Influence' on Screech in Lifetime's 'Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story'

    LOS ANGELES, CA, September 24, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Manny Jacinto, one of Canada's top burgeoning film and TV actors to watch, is starring as Eric in the TV movie, "The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story," currently airing on Lifetime.

Directed by the award-winning Jason Lapeyre ("I Declare War"), "The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story" depicts the experiences of six young, unknown actors - based on the lead actors from the original "Saved by the Bell" series - who are thrust into Hollywood spotlight and challenged to grow up under public scrutiny.

Filmed in Vancouver and produced by Front Street Pictures, the movie is written by WGA Award winner Ron McGee ("Girl Vs. Monster") and produced by Daytime Emmy Award winner Harvey Kahn ("R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour"). Dustin Diamond, who played Screech in the original NBC series, executive produced.

Jacinto's character has the critical role of interacting with the Dustin Diamond character, played by Sam Kindseth.

"Eric is an extra on the lot," said the 27-year old Jacinto, who was born in the Philippines and grew up in Richmond, British Columbia. "I believe he's a fictitious character. He gets introduced to Dustin Diamond after he gets into a quarrel with the cast. I am the bad influence who starts introducing bad substances like alcohol and weed. Things start to take a turn for the cast and crew. They are in the adolescent stage. They are experimenting and there is a greater sense of rivalry. In the case of Screech, there is a sense of alienation and loneliness, and I feel that Eric provides an escape from those somber elements."

Lapeyre said, "Rather than making him the guy that just keeps peer pressuring Dustin Diamond, Manny had the ability to make the character likeable and down to earth. Manny has a very naturalistic approach to his work but he also has no problem pushing his acting to more full and playful boundaries. There was a lot of room to play around with the character, Eric, especially in the scenes used in the auditioning room."

Jacinto, who has acted in "The 100" (CW Network), "Only Human" (CBS), "Rush" (USA Network), "Rogue" (DirecTV), "Supernatural" (The CW) and "Once Upon a Time" (ABC), relished the chance to be a part of the "Saved by the Bell" legacy.

"There is a huge cult following," he said. "This film allowed me to be a part of this. I grew up watching Saved by the Bell all the time with my cousins and my sister. It's not the original series, but it involves something that was pretty close to my childhood. There was a lot of anticipation for the film to be a lot like Dustin Diamond's book. But unlike the book, which describes more dark and controversial events, this movie acts as a positive tribute to the series."

Lapeyre added, "I really enjoyed working with Manny and I think he is immensely talented. He was always prepared and you can tell that he does his homework. He'd come into each scene ready with choices or offers to make. This made my job smoother as a director and whenever I had direction for him, he had no problem executing it."

Jacinto has landed more than 15 principal and featured roles in film and on television over the last two years, including the Lifetime movie-of-the-week "PopFan," TLC's award-winning "Untold Stories of the ER," Rick Tae's "John Apple Jack", Seve Schelenz's "Peelers" and Ryan Bergmann's short film, "#Fix." Jacinto was named Best Male lead at the 2013 Persistence of Vision Film Festival for the role of Tommy in "Tele," a short film directed by Gabriel Adelman.

Jacinto will appear next in October in The Hallmark Channel's "Garage Sale Mystery: All that Glitters," starring Lori Loughlin ("Full House"). He's also acting in the TV movie, "Paper Angels," directed by the 74-time award-winning David Winning and broadcasting on UPtv in December. In 2015, Jacinto will appear in FOX's "Wayward Pines" starring Oscar winner Melissa Leo ("The Fighter"), and Oscar nominees Terrence Howard ("Hustle & Flow") and Matt Dillon ("Crash"). Jacinto also has an upcoming role in the highly anticipated DC Comic based TV series, "iZombie," airing on the CW network.

A versatile actor who also specializes in freestyle dance, Jacinto had a third place finish at the 2011 World of Dance Tour Vancouver, an event in part of the largest urban dance competition in the world. He finished in first place at the 2012 Artist Emerge National Street Dance Competition in Edmonton, and represented Canada in the 2013 Hip Hop International World Championships Las Vegas, helping Canada place 10th against 50 other countries from around the world. Jacinto is currently working on "The Hustler" (www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-hustler-a-contemporary-dance-film), a contemporary dance film directed by the award-winning Michelle Ouellet ("Afterparty") and starring the award-winning actor Joel Sturrock ("Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"), who will also produce.

"The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story" also stars Dylan Everett as Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Alyssa Lynch as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tiera Skovbye as Elizabeth Berkley, Taylor Russell as Lark Voorhies, Julian Works as Mario Lopez and Ken Tremblett as Dennis Haskins. The movie will broadcast next at 6 p.m. ET, Saturday, Sept. 27. For more information, visit www.mylifetime.com/movies/the-unauthorized-saved-by-the-bell-story.

For more information about Manny Jacinto, visit:
www.imdb.com/name/nm3254274/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
www.principalstalent.com/talent/manny_jacinto

Follow Manny on Twitter: twitter.com/mjacint0

Manny Jacinto is a film and TV actor from Richmond, British Columbia.

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