Nico Santos

Nico Santos is a Filipino-American actor and comedian known for portraying Oliver T'sien in Crazy Rich Asians and sales associate Mateo Liwanag in the NBC series Superstore. For the latter, Santos was twice consecutively nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

Early life Santos was born in Manila, Philippines. Santos moved with his family to the United States when he was sixteen, settling in Gresham, Oregon. He and his brother attended Gresham's Centennial High School. In his junior year, he attended the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's summer seminar for high school students, where he discovered his love for theater.

Santos attended Southern Oregon University because of its proximity to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He studied acting there before switching to costume design due to discouraging remarks from his acting teacher. He later moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a stand-up career, but found it difficult to advance due to comedy club politics.

Santos shifted back to acting in 2014. He landed a spot as a writer in the annual CBS Diversity Showcase, which is presented to a agents, casting directors, and other industry professionals. He did some acting after another Asian actor dropped out.

This got him invited to more auditions. In fall 2015, he debuted on the NBC comedy television show Superstore retail store associate.

Santos performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in 2017.

In spring 2019, Santos appeared in the Off-Broadway play Happy Talk, written by Jesse Eisenberg and directed by Scott Elliott.

In June 2022, Santos was cast in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as Recorder Theel.

Personal life Santos is gay

The couple met in April 2018 at the GLAAD Media Awards. Queerty named Santos one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people."

Santos's parents were undocumented before becoming citizens. Santos's mother is supportive of his career and has often attended his open-mic performances.

Filmography +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released