Manuel Jesse Nieto Jr.

Manuel Jesse Nieto Jr. is a second-generation Mexican-American born and raised in Southern California. His father was a Captain at a maximum-security men's prison for 30 years. This forced Manuel to be a quiet, well-behaved child where he discovered early on that he could express himself through writing. Later in life, his passion for working in television became his dream. Not knowing a single person in the industry, he discovered the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), where he volunteered at their annual conference in exchange for free access. This helped him network and meet new people. His break came in 2009 when Manuel was selected into the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) Television Writers Program. In 2012, Manuel was selected as a finalist in the Disney-ABC Writers Program. Shortly after, Manuel served as a writer's assistant for the Hulu series "East Los High'' and became a personal assistant to actresses Sara Gilbert and Aisha Tyler. In 2015 he joined Disney Animation where he was an apprentice writer on the groundbreaking series "Elena of Avalor", writing and co-writing a total of ten shorts for the series. Since then, Manuel has served as writer and co-producer on several animated shows including Disney's "The Owl House", "Zombees" - a series based on social media influencers "The Bee Family", "Rosie's Rules" for PBS, and "CoCoMelon" - the most watched animated children's series in the world. Manuel thrives to combine "the three H's" in every one of his projects - heart, humor, and hope.