‘Guardians’ Star Nico Santos Talks About ‘Adjustment Process’ After Becoming Partially Blind: ‘You Grieve That Loss’
10.05.2023 - 21:17
/ etcanada.com
Nico Santos never expected to become visually impaired at a young age.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” star has starred in many beloved films from “Crazy Rich Asians” to NBC’s comedy “Superstore”, but during his time filming the third or fourth season, he was hit by an unexpected medical emergency.
“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,” he told People. “So, that’s something I’ve had to navigate.”
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“It was definitely an adjustment process. You grieve that loss,” the 44-year-old admitted. “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.”
Despite his thriving career, Santos had never expected to blow up as an actor.
“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,” he recalled. “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.”
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It was his manager who actually encouraged him to chase the limelight again as an actor, a move that would see his career flourish.
“I started booking