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Jacob Batalon is best known for being your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’s best friend, but the 27-year-old actor has sunk his teeth into plenty of other roles, too. Literally, in one case, as Batalon is the title character in SYFY’s comedy horror series Reginald the Vampire, which premiered its second season on May 8.

Before catching up with Reginald when Season 2 kicks off with a vampires vs. angels showdown, get to know Batalon’s career a little better. Here’s everything you need to know about his filmography. 

Where Is Jacob Batalon From?

Batalon was born on October 9, 1996, in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was raised along with his seven siblings. Both of Batalon’s parents are Filipino.

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Batalon’s route to acting wasn’t a direct one. After graduating high school, he enrolled in a local community college to study music theory, but he wasn’t passionate about the subject and it wasn’t long before he dropped out. Still, Batalon knew he wanted to pursue some type of performance, and he enrolled in a two-year acting program at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. So Batalon moved from Hawaii to the Big Apple. Just before he graduated, Batalon auditioned for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man reboot — a part that he, of course, got. 

What Movies and TV Shows Has Jacob Batalon Been In?

Batalon made his film debut in a 2017 indie horror movie called North Woods, but he achieved early, breakout success when he got the role of Ned Leeds, Peter Parker’s best friend in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which came out that same year. Batalon would reprise the role in several more MCU movies, making small appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and then returning to a proper supporting role in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Batalon has not confirmed if he’ll be returning for any potential Spider-Man sequels, though it seems safe to assume Ned will be back.

Batalon’s filmography isn’t limited to just the MCU, though. In 2018, the year after his breakthrough, he appeared in three movies in addition to Infinity War:  the comedy horror Blood Fest, the comedy Banana Split, and the fantasy romance Every Day, the last of which starred Batalon’s Spidey co-star Angourie Rice in the lead role.

In 2019, Batalon starred opposite Tim Blake Nelson in The True Don Quixote, playing Sancho Panza, and he was in the Netflix Christmas rom-com Let it Snow. Last year he had a role in Randall Park’s directorial debut, Shortcomings, and he’s been in two movies this year. First came Netflix’s heist flick Lift, where he played an NFT artist who’a kidnapped as part of a plan to increase the NFT’s value. Batalon also stars in Tarot, a horror movie that just hit theaters where he’s one of a group of friends who find themselves hunted down by supernatural beings from haunted tarot cards. 

He’s set to co-star with The Boys‘ Jack Quaid and Prey‘s Amber Midthunder in Novocaine, an action-thriller set to come out next year. 

Batalon hasn’t been quite as prolific on the small screen, though his only major TV credit is a big one: He is, of course, the lead character of Reginald the Vampire, SYFY’s comedy horror series that premiered in 2022. Based on the book Fat Vampire, the series follows Batalon’s Reginald after he’s turned into a vampire and finds he doesn’t necessarily fit in with all the other bloodsuckers. 

New episodes of Reginald the Vampire Season 2 premiere Wednesdays on SYFY at 10 p.m. ET/PT.