‘Superstore’ Star Reveals He’s Blind in One Eye

Nico Santos is opening up about losing his vision during the filming of his popular NBC series Superstore. The actor, 44, who’s also found success in movies including Crazy Rich Asians and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, opened up to PEOPLE about losing sight in his right eye after suffering a retinal detachment.

“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,” Santos explained. “So, that’s something I’ve had to navigate.” Losing the sight in his eye was “definitely an adjustment,” and Santos said he did “grieve that loss” before deciding he needed to “keep moving forward.”

“The other option is just to sit and wallow,” he continued. “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. …You gotta keep moving because when you stop moving, you get into trouble. Life will keep throwing stuff at you. You decide to keep moving forward.”

Santos has stepped into a new chapter of his career since losing his sight, even working with Michelle Yeoh, Lisa Lu and Ken Jeong on Crazy Rich Asians, which he called “a breath of fresh air.” The Manila native explained, “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 way? Because everybody, for the most part, even though we are from different Asian backgrounds, understood one another’s experience.”

Appearing as Recorder Theel in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 was a “bucket list thing” for Santos, who is also gearing up for a supporting role in Netflix’s upcoming rom-com Happiness for Beginners, which premieres July 27. “It’s one of those things where this opportunity was with Ellie Kemper, who I’m such a huge fan of,” he said. “When they approached me to play this part, it was an immediate yes.”