American actor Jack Messina began acting at seven, and had his first series regular role by the time that he was 10. While studying at The Actor's Garage in New York, he began getting work in commercials. He then won the role of Cal in the pilot "Manifest" (NBC, 2018-) from executive producer Robert Zemeckis. Messina's character was Cal, the leukemia-afflicted son of Josh Dallas and Athena Karkanis's couple.