Who did Manny Jacinto play in Top Gun Maverick? Actor reflects on most of his lines being cut as 'Tom Cruise writes stories for Tom Cruise'

Manny Jacinto, who portrayed Lieutenant Billy "Fritz" Avalone in Top Gun: Maverick, recently opened up about his lines being cut from the film. The actor appeared for an interview with GQ magazine on July 17, 2024, where he said that he was surprised to see the public reactions after they witnessed that he had no lines.

Notably, Manny Jacinto was cast back in 2018 and he told GQ Magazine that he was initially unsatisfied after finding everything. He stated:

"At the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise. It's up to us – Asian Americans, people of color – to be that [for ourselves]. We can't wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves."

Manny Jacinto also recalled the time when the film was being shot, saying that the cameras were focused on "these [other] guys" and continued:

"Fortunately, it still was a great experience – you get to see this huge machine at work, see how Tom Cruise works, and you get to be a small part of this huge franchise."

Top Gun: Maverick, helmed by Joseph Kosinski, was one of the highest-grossing films of 2022. It received various accolades and a sequel has been reportedly confirmed by Paramount Pictures.

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Manny Jacinto accumulated a huge fanbase for his appearance on Top Gun: Maverick

While Jacinto has portrayed various roles over the years, Top Gun: Maverick is also counted among his best works. As mentioned, he played Billy Avalone in the action drama, a naval aviator who underwent training on the F/A-18F Super Hornet.

He graduated from TOPGUN and later prepared for a secret mission to destroy a uranium enrichment facility. Capt Pete "Maverick" Mitchell brought a challenge for the candidates to check who would shoot the other one at first. The candidates have to do 200 pushups if Maverick manages to shoot any one of them.

Billy was supposed to participate in the challenge with Yale and Harvard and they started mocking Rooster, who was doing pushups. On the other hand, Avalone's team was shot by Maverick, and their pushup session was overseen by CWO-4 Bernie "Hondo" Coleman.

Back in 2022, Manny Jacinto spoke to ABS-CBN News and addressed the time when he began training himself for the role. He said:

"The flight training was really intense. It was great, but once you do that, it's like: Oh, okay, we're not doing any CGI, no special effects, we're doing it for real. And it was just demanding, but it was the best experience I probably have been through in a movie."

The flying sequences were filmed live and the best fighter pilots were hired as instructors. Manny recalled the time when he used the flight suit for the first time, saying that he felt like a superhero and they even met a lot of people employed in the Navy and Air Force.

Apart from this action drama, Manny Jacinto is known for giving his voice to Scott Denoga in Hailey's On It! He has multiple films in his credits such as Belle and I Want You Back.