Leonardo Nam

Leonardo Nam
Leonardo Nam
Born	5 November 1979 (age 45); Buenos Aires, Argentina
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of New South Wales
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001–present
Spouse	Michael Dodge
Children	2

Leonardo Nam (born 5 November 1979) is an American^[1] actor. Born in Argentina to South Korean immigrant parents, he emigrated to Australia as a child before moving to the United States in the 1990s to begin his career as an actor. He made his breakthrough as Roy in The Perfect Score (2004), and gained further recognition for his roles as Morimoto in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) and Brian McBrian in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008).

In 2016, Nam began starring as Felix Lutz in Westworld (2016–2020) which brought him widespread recognition.

Early life

Nam was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to South Korean immigrant parents. At the age of six, he moved to Sydney, Australia.^[2] Nam attended Sydney Technical High School and studied architecture at the University of New South Wales.^[3] Nam left Sydney to follow his dreams of an acting career in New York City, United States, at age 19.^[4] He studied with several acting teachers in New York, namely Austin Pendleton and William Carden at HB Studio.^[3]

Career

Before his Hollywood success, Nam traveled to New York City to pursue his acting career. His first few nights he slept in Central Park and then found jobs working as a waiter and bartender.^[3] His breakthrough role came in his performance of Roy in The Perfect Score (2004). He had a small role in the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as Brian McBrian, a hardcore gamer. He played Brian again in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2; in the sequel, his character has a larger role. Nam also made an appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) as Morimoto.^[5] In 2016, he joined the cast of the HBO series Westworld.^[6] In 2018 he was featured in the music video "Waste It on Me" by Steve Aoki featuring BTS.^[7]

Personal life

Nam is married to Michael Dodge. They have twin sons (born 2017) together. The family lives in San Diego.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Hacks	Phuong
2004	Debating Robert Lee	Jordan Kramer
2004	The Perfect Score	Roy
2005	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	Brian McBrian
2005	Little Athens	Kwon
2006	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	Morimoto
	Undoing	Joon
	10 Items or Less	Kid at Target
2007	Finishing the Game	Eli
2007	American Pastime	Lane Nomura
2008	Half-Life	Scott Parker
	Quid Pro Quo	Engineer
	Vantage Point	Kevin Cross
	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2	Brian McBrian
2009	He's Just Not That into You	Joshua
2009	Crossing Over	Kwan
2012	Watching TV with the Red Chinese	Chen
2012	One for the Money	John Cho
2013	Snake and Mongoose	Roland Leong
2014	Murder of a Cat	Yi Kim
2014	Cat Run 2	Zhang
2018	Perfect	Haskell
2018	Happy Anniversary	Hao
2019	DC Showcase: Death	Vincent Omata (voice)	Short film^[12]^[13]
2020	Phobias	Johnny
2021	Yes Day	Mr. Chan
2021	Marvelous and the Black Hole	Angus	^[14]
2023	Origin	Nathan	^[15]
2024	Descendants: The Rise of Red	Maddox	Disney+ film^[16]
TBA	Love Is the Monster	Justin	Filming^[17]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Bones	Nate Grunenfelder	Episode: "The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"
2010	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Miyamoto Takahashi	Episode: "Internal Combustion"
2011	Franklin & Bash	Gene Toy	Episode: "Jennifer of Troy"
2013–2014	Betas	Michael Lau	4 episodes
2014	Royal Pains	Billy	Episode: "Electric Youth"
2014	Stalker	Howard Granger	Episode: "Skin"
2016–2020	Westworld	Felix Lutz	Recurring role Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2016)
2017	Hawaii Five-0	Harley Taylor	Episode: "No Matter How Much One Covers a Steaming Imu, The Smoke Will Rise"
2018	Disjointed	Jesus Bruce Lee Christ	Episode: "Main Street, USA"
	Corporate	Sonnet	Episode: "Weekend"
	The Flash	Matthew Kim / Melting Point	2 episodes
2019	Sneaky Pete	Alexandre Park-Sun	3 episodes
	Prince of Peoria	Mark Takimoto	Episode: "The Summer of Teddy & Emil"
	Historical Roasts	Bruce Lee	Episode: "Muhammad Ali"
	Swamp Thing	Harlan Edwards	4 episodes
2020	MacGyver	Aubrey	3 episodes
2020	Room 104	Bruce	Episode: "The Night Babby Died"
2021	The Rookie	Sato	Episode: "Revelations"
2021	Robot Chicken	Zack Martin, Chunin Exam Proctor (voice)	Episode: "May Cause Lucid Murder Dreams"
2021–2022	Pacific Rim: The Black	Rickter (voice)	^[13]
2022	Maggie	Dave	13 episodes^[18]
2022	Werewolf by Night	Liorn	Disney+ television special^[19]
2023	Star Trek: Lower Decks	Australian Street Punk (voice)	Episode: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus"
2023	Animaniacs	Australian Prime Minister (voice)	Episode: "Groundmouse Day Again"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2020	Iron Man VR	Living Laser	^[13]

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist(s)	Role	Ref.
2018	"Waste It on Me"	Steve Aoki feat. BTS	Himself	^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b "AANHPI Men for Kamala". 7 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024 – via YouTube.
^ "DiCaprio Who? The Other Leo". UCLA International Institute. 20 August 2004. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Pham, Jason (21 February 2017). "Leonardo Nam went from sleeping in Central Park to HBO's 'Westworld'". NBC News. NBC. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
^ "An interview with Leonardo Nam". IGN. 29 January 2004. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
^ "Leonardo Nam | Biography and Filmography". Hollywood.com. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
^ "Leonardo Nam went from sleeping in Central Park to HBO's 'Westworld'". NBC News. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Steve Aoki and BTS's "Waste It on Me" Music Video: A Guide to the All-Asian Cast". W. 19 November 2018. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
^ "Leonardo Nam: The 'Westworld' Star Is Poised for More "Exposure"". Out. 8 August 2018. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
^ Brathwaite, Lester Fabian (23 March 2020). "Leonardo Nam on How "Westworld"—And Gay Fatherhood—Changed Him". Logo TV. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
^ Nardino, Meredith (1 June 2020). "'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' Cast: Where Are They Now?". Us Weekly. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^ Kim, Lee Ann (16 April 2020). "Someone San Diego Should Know: Leonardo Nam". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^ Keränen, Frida (7 May 2019). "DC Showcase Animated Shorts to Highlight Sgt Rock, Adam Strange & More". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Leonardo Nam (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 6 January 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
^ Greenwood, Steven (20 April 2022). "Marvelous and the Black Hole is a Refreshingly Nuanced Take on Teen Life". Tilt Magazine. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
^ Grobar, Matt (21 February 2023). "Ava DuVernay's Caste Adds Blair Underwood, Victoria Pedretti, Finn Wittrock, Others". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
^ Petski, Denise (2 February 2023). "Descendants Sequel The Pocketwatch Disney+ Movie Adds Jeremy Swift & Leonardo Nam To Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
^ Grobar, Matt (17 August 2023). "Madeline Zima & Leonardo Nam Set For Thriller Love Is The Monster Filming Under Interim Agreement; XYZ Boards Sales Ahead Of TIFF". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
^ Petski, Denise (5 April 2021). "David Del Rio, Chris Elliott, Ray Ford & Leonardo Nam Join Rebecca Rittenhouse In ABC Comedy Pilot Maggie". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
^ Hood, Cooper (7 October 2022). "Werewolf By Night Cast & Character Guide". ScreenRant. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

External links

Leonardo Nam at IMDb
Leonardo Nam on Instagram

[YT-1] "AANHPI Men for Kamala". 7 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024 – via YouTube.

[2] "DiCaprio Who? The Other Leo". UCLA International Institute. 20 August 2004. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.

[nbc-3] Pham, Jason (21 February 2017). "Leonardo Nam went from sleeping in Central Park to HBO's 'Westworld'". NBC News. NBC. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.

[4] "An interview with Leonardo Nam". IGN. 29 January 2004. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2014.

[5] "Leonardo Nam | Biography and Filmography". Hollywood.com. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.

[6] "Leonardo Nam went from sleeping in Central Park to HBO's 'Westworld'". NBC News. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.

[:0-7] "Steve Aoki and BTS's "Waste It on Me" Music Video: A Guide to the All-Asian Cast". W. 19 November 2018. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.

[8] "Leonardo Nam: The 'Westworld' Star Is Poised for More "Exposure"". Out. 8 August 2018. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2020.

[9] Brathwaite, Lester Fabian (23 March 2020). "Leonardo Nam on How "Westworld"—And Gay Fatherhood—Changed Him". Logo TV. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.

[10] Nardino, Meredith (1 June 2020). "'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' Cast: Where Are They Now?". Us Weekly. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.

[11] Kim, Lee Ann (16 April 2020). "Someone San Diego Should Know: Leonardo Nam". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.

[12] Keränen, Frida (7 May 2019). "DC Showcase Animated Shorts to Highlight Sgt Rock, Adam Strange & More". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

[btva-13] "Leonardo Nam (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 6 January 2025. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.

[14] Greenwood, Steven (20 April 2022). "Marvelous and the Black Hole is a Refreshingly Nuanced Take on Teen Life". Tilt Magazine. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

[15] Grobar, Matt (21 February 2023). "Ava DuVernay's Caste Adds Blair Underwood, Victoria Pedretti, Finn Wittrock, Others". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

[16] Petski, Denise (2 February 2023). "Descendants Sequel The Pocketwatch Disney+ Movie Adds Jeremy Swift & Leonardo Nam To Cast". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

[17] Grobar, Matt (17 August 2023). "Madeline Zima & Leonardo Nam Set For Thriller Love Is The Monster Filming Under Interim Agreement; XYZ Boards Sales Ahead Of TIFF". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

[18] Petski, Denise (5 April 2021). "David Del Rio, Chris Elliott, Ray Ford & Leonardo Nam Join Rebecca Rittenhouse In ABC Comedy Pilot Maggie". Deadline. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

[19] Hood, Cooper (7 October 2022). "Werewolf By Night Cast & Character Guide". ScreenRant. Retrieved 6 January 2025.

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