Why Rio From Good Girls Looks So Familiar

We're still not over the end of "Good Girls." The beloved NBC dramedy, which follows the moral trials and run-ins with danger of a trio of suburban mothers forced into a life of crime in order to pay bills, had a strong, consistent four-season bow, during which it managed to tell, all in all, a deeply rewarding and satisfying story. But even so, we can't help wondering what it might have been like if the show had been allowed to continue into Season 5 and attend to all those unplanned loose ends.

Be that as it may, we'll always have the four seasons of "Good Girls" we did get. And, as any fan of the show knows, the wit, emotional stakes, stylistic flair, and acting prowess on display during those four seasons was enough to put most TV crime dramas to shame. The cast, in particular, could always be trusted to bring their A-game to any given episode, from the central trio of Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman down to each of the supporting and recurring stars. One of those stars, the one who played mob kingpin Rio, is an experienced actor with a long list of film and TV credits to his name. If you're wondering where you might have seen him before, here are a few possible answers.

Mexican American actor Manny Montana started out playing college football at Cal State University Sacramento, only for his career to be cut short by an injury. He then transferred to Cal State Long Beach and made the decision to major in journalism and broadcasting, which eventually led to the pursuit of acting roles in local student films. After some time, he learned of a casting call so perfectly suited to him that he thought to himself, "If I don't get this part, I'm just going to quit acting," as he told the Long Beach Post in 2013. The call in question was for the role of cheerful, laid-back FBI agent and surfer José "Johnny" Tuturro on "Graceland."

Montana landed the part, and, although the USA Network drama about a group of undercover agents living together in a Southern California beach house only lasted for three seasons, his performance in all three of those seasons was highly successful, leading to many further casting opportunities.

2015's "Blackhat," starring Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis, was about as divisive as any late-period Michael Mann film is wont to be. If you're in the Venn diagram of "Good Girls" fans who also consider Mann's action-packed hacker thriller to be a misunderstood, forward-looking postmodern masterpiece, you might want to watch the movie again and stay on the lookout for Manny Montana's appearance in it.

As Montana told Collider in 2013, he actually originally auditioned for one of the leading roles of "Blackhat," when it was still known by its working title, "Cyber." And, even though he didn't land it, the filmmakers liked him enough to invite him back to play a smaller, but still-significant part as wanted criminal Alonzo Reyes. Montana loved the experience, telling Collider, "That dude [Mann] is meticulous. Every little detail of the movie, he's involved in. I've done a lot of TV, but not film. To be on a set like that, it just makes me want to do more film. It's the best."

Manny Montana's roles in "Graceland" and "Blackhat" served as a springboard for a prolific TV career over the following years. He made subsequent guest appearances on "Grimm," "Power," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "The Following," and "Lucifer." And, after the end of "Graceland," he quickly found steady work again on ABC's "Conviction."

Created by Liz Friedlander and Liz Friedman, this legal drama series was billed as the big comeback vehicle of former "Agent Carter" star Hayley Atwell. Atwell played Hayes Morrison, a skilled defense attorney and former first daughter who is forced to take a position as head of New York's new Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU), which looks at past cases in which there might have been wrongful convictions. Manny Montana played Franklin "Frankie" Cruz, an ex-con now working in the CIU team as a forensic technician. "Conviction" was canceled after having aired only 13 episodes, but Montana was a cast regular throughout the show's single season.