JayR Tinaco

JayR
Born	(1989-01-04) 4 January 1989 (age 36) Manila, Philippines
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2009–present

JayR Formerly known as JayR Tinaco (born 5 January 1989)[1] is a Filipino-Australian actor, known for his roles as Zayn Petrossian in the Netflix series Another Life (2019–2021) and as Dr. Xyler in Space Force (2022).[2]

Early life

JayR was born in Manila, Philippines,^[citation needed] and grew up in Queensland, Australia.[3]

Early in his career, agents told JayR that he needed to do more "straight acting". JayR later told Variety: "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."[4]

Career

JayR 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. Between 2012 and 2015, JayR 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), and The Wake by Leigh Joel Scott. In 2016, he appeared in two episodes of the Australian series Rake.[5]

JayR moved to Canada to pursue his acting dreams back in early 2017. In September 2018, JayR joined Katee Sackhoff, Tyler Hoechlin, Justin Chatwin, Samuel Anderson and Elizabeth Ludlow in the American series Another Life, broadcast on Netflix. JayR played Zayn Petrossian, the non-binary military doctor aboard the spaceship Salvare. It ran for two seasons from 2019 to 2021.[6] The same year, JayR appeared as the restaurant's host in the Netflix film Always Be My Maybe.[2]

JayR also appears as Dr. Xyler in the second season of the Netflix series Space Force, which was released in February 2022.[7]

Personal life

JayR is non-binary. Regarding his pronouns, he says, "I still identify with the pronouns He/His/Him in my personal life, but I have friends that call me 'They' or even 'she' and I'm okay with that."[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Drown	Dan
2019	Always Be My Maybe	Saintly Fare Host
2021	Swan Song	Alex
2025	F*** Marry Kill	Anthony

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Home and Away	Trapped Student	2 episodes[8]
2016	Rake	Qi	2 episodes[8]
2019–2021	Another Life	Zayn Petrossian	Main role[2]
2020	A Million Little Things	Stevie	Episode: "We're the Howards"
2021	One of Us Is Lying	Miko	Episode: "Pilot"[9]
2022	Space Force	Dr. Xyler	4 episodes[10]
2023	So Help Me Todd	Casey Manthine	Episode: "Side Effects May Include Murder"[11]
	The Fall of the House of Usher	Faraj	Episode: "The Masque of the Red Death"[12]
2024	Alert: Missing Persons Unit	Skit	Episode: "Maya"
	Fire Country	Béla	Episode: "False Alarm"

References

1. Allschoolsinfo. "JayR Tinaco Biography". Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
2. White, Brett (26 July 2019). "Zayn on 'Another Life': Meet JayR Tinaco's Breakout Character". Decider. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
3. Leighton-Dore, Samuel (31 July 2019). "Australian actor JayR's role in 'Another Life' helped them come out as non-binary". SBS Australia. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
4. Zukin, Meg (5 June 2020). "How Gender Non-Conforming Actors Are Changing Hollywood". Variety. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020.
5. Lang, Nico (12 September 2019). "How Starring in a Netflix Show Helped This Nonbinary Actor Thrive". Out. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
6. Swift, Andy (21 February 2022). "Another Life Cancelled at Netflix — Read Katee Sackhoff's Statement". TVLine. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
7. Lerner, Jamie (21 February 2022). "The Breakout Star of 'Space Force' Season 2 Is JayR Tinaco". Distractify. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
8. Rogers, Destiny (11 August 2019). "Aussie star JayR Tinaco scores lead role in Netflix's 'Another Life'". QNews. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019.
9. Harrison, Maxine (26 February 2022). "Who is in the One Of Us Is Lying cast and what is the Netflix series about?". Manchester Evening News.
10. "JayR Tinaco". IMDb. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
11. Byrne, Craig (12 January 2023). "So Help Me Todd Tonight: "Side Effects May Include Murder"". KSiteTV. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
12. Puchko, Kristy (13 October 2023). "'The Fall of the House of Usher' dropped a 'Hush' Easter egg you might have missed". Mashable. Retrieved 21 January 2025.

External links

• JayR Tinaco at IMDb