[2] A pre-med student at UC-Berkeley in the early 1940s, Manza was drafted into the United States Army during World War II.

[2] The diminutive Manza appeared on daytime television briefly in 1963 as an original cast member of the ABC-TV soap opera series General Hospital, where he played the role of Mike Costello.

[2] This part of his acting career continued to flourish through the 1960s, with appearances on such shows as 77 Sunset Strip, McHale's Navy, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

and Gunsmoke, continuing in the 1970s and 1980s on such series such as Get Smart, My Three Sons, Night Gallery, Police Woman, Hart to Hart, Chico and the Man, Barney Miller (in 7 episodes), Benson, Simon and Simon, Night Court, The Golden Girls, Newhart, Mama's Family, Growing Pains, and on Banacek, co-starring as perpetually puzzled chauffeur Jay Drury.

Manza died in January 2000 in Scripps Health-Encintas Hospital in Encinitas, California of a heart attack.