'Guardians' Star Nico Santos Opens Up About Blindness After Eye Surgery: 'You Grieve That Loss' (Exclusive)
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Santos’s life changed while working on the NBC comedy Superstore, but, as he tells PEOPLE exclusively, “you can’t let something like that stop you”
Nico Santos is determined to move forward.
The Manila native has seen smashing success with his roles in movies ranging from Crazy Rich Asians to, now, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, but it was during his time on the NBC show Superstore that Santos found he actually couldn't see much at all.
"I'm visually impaired. I'm blind in my right eye. I actually lost my vision. Around the third or fourth season of Superstore, I had a retinal detachment and complication," the 44-year-old shares while speaking exclusively to PEOPLE for AAPI Heritage Month. "So, that's something I've had to navigate."
"It was definitely an adjustment process. You grieve that loss," he admits, "but with something like that, you have to keep moving forward. The other option is just to sit and wallow. And, you know, I've certainly done a little bit of that, but again, not everybody is lucky enough to be working at this level. You can't let something like that weigh you down and stop you."
Santos, who was involved in his high school theater program and before pursuing the major college, always knew he wanted to be an actor — but he started with a career in comedy after the feedback he got in college.
"My experience in college was not encouraging. They actually really encouraged me to switch my major from performance to costume design because they, for whatever reason, didn't think I was going to have a future as an actor. I never thought I would have a career as an actor. When I moved to L.A., I was just focused on standup because I had believed what college professors told me — that acting was not for me."
Once his manager encouraged him to start auditioning for acting roles, however, Santos recalls how more doors began to open.
"I started booking comedy parts as an actor. I was seeing how long I could ride this wave, to be honest. I've really sort of taken a step back from standup at the moment, just because in my head, the career that I have right now and the amazing opportunities I've been able to do as an actor, I just really never, ever thought that was possible for me, or that there was even space for me in this industry."
Santos has worked with Michelle Yeoh, Lisa Lu and Ken Jeong on Crazy Rich Asians, an experience he says, "was a breath of fresh air" on set.
"You could be a little more at ease and not have to explain yourself. What are you eating? Why are you eating that? Or why do you do [it] this this way? Because everybody, for the most part, even though we are from different Asian backgrounds, understood one another's experience."
For more on Santos, pick up this week's copy of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday
Related:Michelle Yeoh Says She 'Kung Fu'd' and 'Shattered' Glass Ceiling at Oscars 2023
These days, Santos is gearing up for a supporting role on the Netflix rom-com Happiness for Beginners, due out July 27, which he was thrilled to join.
"It's one of those things where this opportunity was with Ellie Kemper, who I'm such a huge fan of," he says. "When they approached me to play this part, it was an immediate yes."
And, in the meantime, he can also be found on the big screen in the latest Guardians movie, which he says is a "bucket list thing for me."
Related:Superstore's Nico Santos and Survivor's Zeke Smith Get Engaged at GLAAD Media Awards
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The actor has vowed that his blindness won't prevent him from seeing what else life has in store, either.
"You gotta keep moving because when you stop moving, you get into trouble. Life will keep throwing stuff at you," he says. "You decide to keep moving forward."
--REPORTING BY Michael Lee Simpson
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