Breaking Bad Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Breaking Bad Wiki

I think as an actor... I don't like to compare a character to anybody else, just because I respect other people's work, and I want that character to have his own identity.
― Michael Mando[src]

Michael Mando is a Canadian actor who portrays Ignacio "Nacho" Varga in Better Call Saul.

Biography[]

Michael Mando was raised by a single father and is the middle child of three boys. His family traveled a lot, but his brothers and he spent the greater part of their childhood in Africa (Ivory Coast and Ghana).

He studied psychology at the University of Ottawa and later pursued an academic scholarship in international relations at The University of Montreal before joining The Dome Theatre in 2004-2007. He instantly excelled at The Dome where he went on to play the male lead in all five productions; graduated with excellence; and was named by the chairman “one of the finest talents to emerge from the program in the past 25 years.”

After being snapped up to play the title role in the highly successful Montreal-in-the-Park production of Moliere’s Les fourberies de Scapin (Scapin), Mando pierced into film and television with critically acclaimed appearances on Toronto-based shows The Bridge (2010) and The Border (2010).

He burst into the international scene through the video game world in his award-winning full performance capture as Vaas Montenegro in Far Cry 3 (2012), as well as his live action performance in the web series The Far Cry Experience (2012).

In 2013, he joined BBC’s original Orphan Black cast and went on to be nominated twice in the same year at The Canadian Screen Awards 2014, for both his performance as Vic in Orphan Black, and his guest-star role of Cesar Medina in Rookie Blue. In 2015, he began portraying Nacho Varga in 'Better Call Saul, appearing in the first five seasons. He made his final appearance in the role of Nacho in the third episode of the final season. To prepare for his role of Nacho, Mando spent time watching crime and criminology documentaries to understand the motivations of criminals.

Appearances[]

Better Call Saul[]

Episodes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6

Trivia[]

  • Michael Mando's native language is French, and he also speaks English and Spanish fluently.
  • It was thanks to the creation and interpretation of Vaas's character in the video game Far Cry 3 that Michael Mando caught the attention of the directors of Better Call Saul, who then invited him to audition.[1]

External links[]

Notes[]

Advertisement