JayR Tinaco (born 5 January 1989) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

actor, known for his role as Zayn Petrossian in the

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series '' Another Life'' and Dr. Xyler in ''

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''.

Early life

Tinaco was born in

Manila, Philippines Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital city, capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is Cities of the Philippines#Independent cities, highly urbanize ...

, and grew up in Queensland, Australia. Early in his career, agents told Tinaco that he needed to do more "straight acting". Tinaco later told

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

"When you’re an actor starting out and you have an agent telling you this, you want to listen because you want to make it and you want to work."

Career

Tinaco started a career working in the hospitality industry in Sydney. In 2009, he won his first television role performing a trapped student in two episodes of the Australian series ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a tr ...

''. Between 2012 and 2015, Tinaco appeared in short films such as Simone Pietro Felice's ''The Life Again'', Samuel Leighton-Dore's ''Showboy'' (in which he portrays a

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

), and ''The Wake'' by Leigh Joel Scott. In 2016, he appeared in two episodes of the Australian series ''

Rake Rake may refer to: * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (theatre), the artificial slope of a theatre stage Science and technology * Rake receiver, a radio receiver * Rake (geology), the angle between a feature on a ...

''. Tinaco moved to Canada to pursue his acting dreams back in early 2017. In September 2018, Tinaco joined

Katee Sackhoff Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for playing Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program '' Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on the Netflix series '' Anothe ...

Tyler Hoechlin Tyler Lee Hoechlin (; born September 11, 1987) is an American actor. Initially earning recognition for starring as Michael Sullivan Jr. in the 2002 film '' Road to Perdition'', Hoechlin went on to star as Martin Brewer on '' 7th Heaven'' betwee ...

Justin Chatwin Justin Chatwin (born October 31, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He began his career in 2001 with a brief appearance in the musical comedy '' Josie and the Pussycats''. Following his breakthrough role as Robbie Ferrier in the blockbuster '' War of the ...

, Samuel Anderson and

Elizabeth Ludlow Elizabeth Faith Ludlow is an American actress known for her portrayal of Arat in the AMC postapocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2018); she is also known for her role as Mona in the USA Network TV series '' Satisf ...

in the American series '' Another Life'', broadcast on

. Tinaco plays Zayn Petrossian, the

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...

military doctor aboard the spaceship ''Salvare''. Speaking of Tinaco’s character as "an important role" because the story in the series is not about coming out nor sex (despite several love scenes involving Tinaco’s character and a male crewman). It ran for two seasons from 2019 to 2021. The same year, Tinaco appeared as the restaurant's host in the Netflix film '' Always Be My Maybe''. Tinaco also appears as Dr. Xyler in the second season of the Netflix series ''

'', which was released in February 2022.

Personal life

Tinaco is

. Regarding his pronouns, he says, "I still identify with the pro-nouns He/His/Him in my personal life, but I have friends that call me 'They' or even 'she' and I’m okay with that."

Filmography

Movies

* 2015: ''Drown'' by Dean Francis: Dan * 2019: ''Always Be My Maybe'' by Nahnachka Khan: Saintly Fare Host * 2021: ''Swan Song'' by Benjamin Cleary: Alex

TV shows

* 2009: ''Home and Away'': a trapped student (2 episodes) * 2016: ''Rake'': Qi (2 episodes) * 2019-2021: ''Another Life'': Zayn Petrossian (20 episodes). *2020: ''A Million Little Things'': Stevie (1 episode) *2022: ''Space Force'': Dr Xyler *2023: ''The Fall of the House of Usher'': TBA

Short films

* 2012: ''Your Life Again'' by Simone Pietro Felice: Alan * 2014: ''Showboy'' by Samuel Leighton-Dore: the drag queen

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tinaco, JayR Australian television actors 1991 births Living people Australian non-binary actors 21st-century Australian LGBT people