Apologies to everyone who’s been drooling over Manny Jacinto’s Cosmo Centerfold, but the Freakier Friday star is, indeed, off the market. He’s been with his wife, fellow actor Dianne Doan, for well over a decade, having met in a dance class before Manny even started acting. However! The two are so low-key about their relationship that you may not have even realized they’re together, which is why I think it’s time for a deep dive.
Ahead, everything you need to know about Manny’s wife Dianne, including how they met, when they got married, and what makes them such a good match. First things first…
Dianne is an actor
Yep, that’s right. Like Manny, Dianne is an actor, and she’s best known for playing Kora in season 7 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as Mai Ling in Cinemax’s Warrior.
You also might recognize her as Lonnie (the daughter of Mulan and Li Shang) from the Descendants franchise or Molly Tran from Grey’s Anatomy.
She’s also a dancer
Before breaking into acting, Dianne made her living as a dancer—and in fact, it was in a dance class that she first met Manny. As she recounted during a 2023 interview, “[We] were dancers, and we met in a hip-hop fundamentals training program called Soldiers in Vancouver.”
Speaking of which…
She’s Canadian
Also like Manny, Dianne is Canadian, and during an 2024 interview, she spoke about how moving from Vancouver to Los Angeles helped her develop her confidence as an actor.
“When I came to America, the first thing I noticed was an innate confidence in this culture,” she said. “Only in the last couple of years have I found my voice and feel like I matter and am making room for myself.”
She and Manny got engaged in 2019
While it’s not clear how long Dianne dated Manny before he popped the question, it’s obvious that he put a lot of thought into the proposal.
When asked about the engagement during an interview with Vulture, Manny said, “I took her to places that really meant a lot to us. Where I first met her, where I first saw her, where we had our first date, and where we had our first dance class.”
He added, “I took her through five different places, and at the last place I had our families waiting and I proposed.”
They tied the knot in 2021
It’s not clear exactly when they got married, but during his Cosmo Blind Date episode, Manny confirmed that he and Dianne tied the knot all the way back in 2021.
Food is the way to her heart
During his Centerfold interview with Cosmo, Manny revealed that a “great date” for his wife would involve a home-cooked meal (though apparently, he’s not much of a chef himself). “I wish I could cook, but she comes from a family that does a lot of cooking, and a lot of the connection has been made at the dinner table,” he explained.
Her ideal meal? “For Dianne, it would be something Vietnamese because she’s Vietnamese,” he continued. “Whether it be pho or Bún Bò or something that’s comfort food for her.”
