![\"manny5\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/manny5.jpg\")
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Manny Montana at Jordan Panther night practice. Photos by Angela Ratzlaff. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWelcome to the ghetto,\u201d Graceland<\/em> actor Manny Montana said as he opened up the gates to the Jordan High School football field on the night of the USA Network\u2019s latest Southern California-set crime series’\u00a0premier.<\/p>\n As Montana walks towards the patched-up playing field and a group of teenaged boys huddled for a pep talk, he waves to coaches, players and other Long Beach residents.<\/p>\n Instead of staying at home during the night of Graceland<\/em>\u2019s premier and watching the new episode with friends, he stuck to his commitment of coaching the weekly Long Beach Jordan Panthers’ night practice, which lasts from 7PM to 9PM.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be that guy that has the show, that has the really good show, and starts to be known for the smaller roles,\u201d he said sitting on the sidelines of the field. “I never wanted to be \u2018the man,\u2019 or super famous.\u201d<\/p>\n The Long Beach native plays a supporting role in Graceland<\/em>, a series about the Los Angeles crime scene and the drama behind drug and gang busts. The show takes a look inside a beachside house where a group of FBI agents live and spend their time when they are not on the job doing undercover work to bust drug deals.<\/p>\n \u201cI read it, and I was like, \u2018If I don\u2019t get this part, I\u2019m just going to quit acting,\u2019\u201d Montana, who regularly surfs and relates to Latin street culture, said. \u201cIt just clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t get into acting until recently, having graduated from Jordan High School and gaining a football scholarship to Cal State University Sacramento. His dreams of football were crushed due to an arm injury, though, and he quit after dislocating his shoulder for the eighth time.<\/p>\n After a transfer to Cal State Long Beach, Montana decided to major in journalism and broadcasting. He worked as a DJ for the school\u2019s student-run radio station KBeach and eventually landed an internship for Power 100.3, which at the time played mostly hip-hop music before it changed to playing classic rock.<\/p>\n Always having had a desire to act, Montana pushed himself after he graduated in 2006 to start by playing roles in student films, some of which were sub-par.<\/p>\n \u201c[Acting in student films] turned on that desire,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a competitor at heart, I\u2019ve been playing sports my whole life, so when I saw that I had potential in that, but it wasn\u2019t where I wanted to be, I started taking classes, I started doing workshops, and it reminded me of football.\u201d<\/p>\n Montana still fulfills his passion for football by coaching the Jordan Panthers every day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little difficult with high school,\u201d he said. \u201cUsually I have stuff to do in L.A., and I have to drive back here to practice and then usually go back to L.A. for whatever reason, so it\u2019s a little tough, but whenever I\u2019m out here, it\u2019s fun. It makes every problem go away.\u201d<\/p>\n As the kids, many of whom are surrounded or involved in gang activity, shout to each other and complete touchdowns, Montana gives positive feedback and support.<\/p>\n Montana said he, too, grew up around Mexican and black gang activity in Long Beach. He often found himself breaking up fights and witnessing his friends getting shot or going to prison. The football practice, Montana said, creates an escape from the day-to-day violence that the kids may face.<\/p>\n Living in Los Angeles is not an option for Montana, as he wants to keep up with coaching and maintain a laid back lifestyle alongside his acting career.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that Long Beach has \u2026 something for everyone. We have rich areas \u2026 we have super nice areas, then we got places like the North Side and the East,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a class for everybody, and growing up here, I feel like I got a taste for every kind of person, and every kind of lifestyle that you could have.\u201d<\/p>\n His Long Beach background makes its way into one of the 11 episodes that have been already shot, where Montana\u2019s character has to go undercover as a Latin gang member.<\/p>\n \u201cWe incorporate a lot of surrounding neighborhoods into the show, and we wanted to do everything authentic,\u201d he said, explaining how the makeup team mimicked common tattoos that are a part of the eastside gangs in Long Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a way, it felt good to do something that I grew up around, but in a lot of ways, I hated it. I hated those gangs growing up,\u201d he said. \u201c[But] it was a treat to do as an actor.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, Montana plans to continue his work with Graceland<\/em> while keeping his eyes out for smaller, independent films to play roles in. Even though he tries to steer clear from becoming an A-list star, Montana said that as long as he can keep coaching, he doesn\u2019t mind how much success he may gain from acting.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I could coach when hiatus is on, and still do films, that would be my ideal life,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d die a happy man. I could do that forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Graceland airs weekly Thursday nights on the USA Network.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0<\/p>\n Instead of staying at home during the night of\u00a0Graceland<\/em>\u2019s premier and watching himself in the new episode with friends, Long Beach actor Manny Montana stuck to his commitment coaching the weekly football night practice at his alma mater, Jordan High School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":69042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1704,1705],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-jordan-high-school","tag-manny-montana","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"manny2\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/manny2.jpg\")
Unlike other crime dramas, Graceland<\/em> takes on more of a California vibe, complete with extended scenes of surfing and driving down Pacific Coast Highway. Montana plays the part of Johnny Tuturro, a laid back, fun-loving surfer.<\/p>\n![\"manny1\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/manny1.jpg\")
\u201cBeing out here, it\u2019s a good place to help show kids to not do [get involved in gangs], to show them a different path,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have kids that act so tough, and you can just see how sensitive they are, you can just see that you want somebody to care for them.\u201d<\/p>\n