Everything to Know About Manifest Newcomer Ty Doran

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Joining the cast of Manifest was a whirlwind experience for Ty Doran.

The actor made his debut on the series in 2021 as he portrayed an adult version of Cal Stone (originally played by Jack Messina) in the show's shocking season 3 finale. However, just a few weeks later, the sci-fi series was canceled by NBC — only to be revived by Netflix for a supersized fourth and final season shortly after.

"It was interesting," Doran tells PEOPLE about the series of events leading to Netflix's pickup. "I had a great time the one day I was on in season 3 and thought the idea of being in New York was exciting. And then the show got canceled."

"As an actor working in the entertainment industry, you build up sort of a thick skin," he adds of the cancelation. "There's a lot of rugs that get pulled out from under you at various times and you just make the best of a situation."

While Doran kept a positive attitude initially, he says that getting to work with the talented cast more during season 4 — including Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh and Luna Blaise — really put things into perspective for him.

"If I had known what I was missing when we got canceled, I would've been much more upset," he says. "The friendships and relationships that I've made over the course of this past year and getting to be in [N.Y.C.] have been incredible. "It is changed me as a person and as an actor. I don't know what I would've done [if the show got canceled]. All I can do is say thank you to the fans that made it possible for me to come back and get to work with such lovely people."

From his early career beginnings to his time working on the Manifest set, learn more about the rising star ahead.

He got his start in theater

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Doran tells PEOPLE he first started acting in theater productions when he was 8 years old. "I was in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and I played the changeling child that Titania and Oberon fight over. Even from a young age, I loved people fighting over me," he jokes.

"It was very exciting and I immediately fell in love with the theater. That's really what I pursued professionally until I was 18 and was finishing up high school."

After graduating from Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas, he began to do on-camera work, which he describes as "a whole different beast." Finding the work "challenging and exciting in a different way," he adds that his passion for acting was renewed as he went to college at Northwestern University, where he eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Theater in 2020.

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His dad is an actor as well

Doran first got into acting through his father, who is also an actor and director. In fact, his first role in A Midsummer Night's Dream was directed by his dad. He adds that his parents gave him "nothing but support" as he pursued acting professionally.

"Having that resource in my dad, it was tough at the beginning because he would prep me for every audition, every show. We'd work on scenes together, we were in shows together," he explains. "When you're a kid, trying to take constructive criticism from your father is difficult. It really informed our relationship for a while — and I was such a little angsty little tween that getting that from him was really hard and it forced us to have very honest conversations."

He continues that "theater and art" became "a foundation of [their] relationship" with each other. "We got a lot closer after finally recognizing I could be self-assured enough and honest enough and vulnerable enough to consider him a partner as an artist in addition to being my father."

He didn't know he was auditioning for Cal Stone originally

Peter Kramer/Netflix

Following his TV roles on Hulu's All Night and ABC's American Crime, Doran says his audition for Manifest was very secretive in the early stages, noting that he didn't know much about who he was trying out for.

"It was very hush-hush," he says of the audition. "When I auditioned, it was with some fake scenes that they had written with an idea of what was going to happen in following seasons and [they] switched all the names and characters around."

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He hadn't seen Manifest prior to booking the series

Before booking the role of Cal, Doran admits he wasn't super familiar with the show. "I don't have cable and it was on NBC at the time. So I immediately started watching," he says.

That being said, his mom was a huge fan of the series and was excited when he booked the role. "She [was] like, 'Manifest? What? That's so exciting. I love Matt Long. He's so cute,'" he recalls of her reaction.

Josh Dallas was a "mentor figure" for him while filming Manifest 

Netflix

While Doran notes that the entire cast was "incredible," he adds that his onscreen father Josh Dallas (who plays Ben Stone) was "one of the most generous scene partners" he's ever had.

"I got to know him as a person over this past year at the same time as we are playing this relationship of Cal and Ben getting to know each other [and] finding each other again. It almost reflected real life in a way."

He adds that Dallas had "such a presence" on set and he really looked up to him during filming. "He controls a room so well and especially on that set, he is so well regarded because he is so talented and kind to everyone," he says. "He was a mentor figure for me coming into the show as a newbie and getting to work all of that out."

He jokes that Dallas was "so generous personally" that seeing him as a dad wasn't hard at all: "He is a person I genuinely want love from desperately. It was really fantastic. I will not work with the likes of Josh Dallas anytime soon."

His acting role models are LaKeith Stanfield and John Lithgow

As far as acting role models go, Doran reveals that he has really looked up to LaKeith Stanfield. "He is one of my favorite actors to watch," he says. "His work in Atlanta is fantastic. I loved Sorry to Bother You. I thought that was satire at its peak. I think the work that he is doing is so simple and lovely and honest."

He adds that he also admires John Lithgow's versatility as an actor. "From 3rd Rock from the Sun to a serial killer in Dexter, the man has such an incredible range and can bring such truth and craft to so many different characters and genres," he explains. "I think that's really admirable and something that I hope I can emulate in my career."

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He has a few big things on his career bucket list

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Now that Manifest has wrapped filming for part 2 (which doesn't currently have a release date), Doran is already looking to the future. One of the biggest things on his bucket list? Doing more stunts.

"Nobody really trusted me to get hurt at all [on Manifest]," he says. "I want to [do stunts] like Tom Cruise [and] hang onto the back of a plane. That'd literally [be] my bucket list ... because it would be the last thing I ever did on this planet. Because I'm no Tom Cruise!"

As for who he'd love to work with next, he says anyone from the cast of Atlanta, including his acting role model Stanfield and Donald Glover. "I'm such a fan of that man and everything he does in all his different mediums," he says of Glover, who also creates music under the stage name Childish Gambino.

"I just want to work with people who make lots of different kinds of art and are collaborators in that," he says. "Anyone who wants to work with me and pick my brain and will let me pick theirs, I'm super into that."