Watch : Cooper Levy Reveals He Was Cast in a Completely Different Role for ‘Anna Pigeon’Cooper Levy had to get into character twice for Anna Pigeon. The Overcompensating star, who plays Jesse Garland in the new USA series, shared that he was originally cast in Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz’s role. “Originally, I was cast as Manny and there was a shift. Being Jesse, I was like, ‘It’s going to be throwing it to the wind and just being a love interest.’” Levy emphasized that while taking on the role of Jesse was a bit intimidating, the set couldn’t have felt more comfortable.