Manny Montana Reflects On Long Beach Roots: “It Gives Me That Peace Of Mind”

February 16, 2020

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They say home is where the heart is, and for Good Girls actor Manny Montana that “home” may literally and figuratively reside in Long Beach. In the two videos below, Montana talks about being raised in North Long Beach and how the films Crash and Raising Victor Vargas influenced his childhood.

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NBCUNIVERSAL EVENTS — January 2020 Press Tour Portrait Studio — Pictured: Manny Montana, “Good Girls” — (Photo by: Maarten de Boer/NBC)

Manny Montana, a veteran actor who has flourished in television (Graceland, Conviction, Good Girls) and film (Blackhat, The Mule), is not the type of guy you would find living in the Hollywood Hills or even in the hipster confines of Silver Lake. During last month’s NBCUniversal Press Tour to promote the third season of Good Girls, Montana talked about his love for his hometown of Long Beach:

I still stay in Long Beach because it gives me that peace of mind. No diss to L.A. but I just need to get away from acting in Hollywood whenever I’m done with work. So I still live there. All my family is still there. My friends are there. The places that I like to go where nobody gives a damn if I’m an actor or who I am. They might say they like the show and that’s it. Nobody asks for a selfie. Nobody asks for an autograph. They’re just like ‘Good job, good for you, a local Long Beach native.’ It just feels good and it makes me want to keep doing what I’m doing . . . Nobody from Long Beach, especially where I’m from which is North Long Beach nobody tells you (that) you can be an actor. Nobody tells you (that) you could do anything more than (be) a rapper or a sports person (a basketball player or football player). So to do something where you’re not really fed into as a young kid and to do it and fall into it and for it to be successful is a dream come true.

For the audio version:

GOOD GIRLS — “One Last Time” — Pictured: (l-r) Christina Hendricks as Beth Boland, Manny Montana as Rio — (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/NBC)

In the video below, Montana reflects on how seeing Latino actors play prominent roles in Crash (Michael Peña) and Raising Victor Vargas (Victor Rasuk) served as encouragement for his own acting goals: