Leonardo Nam (born 5 November 1979) is an American 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 ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

'' (2016–2020) which brought him widespread recognition.

Early life

Nam was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, to South Korean immigrant parents. At the age of six, he moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Nam attended Sydney Technical High School and studied architecture at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

. Nam left Sydney to follow his dreams of an acting career in New York City, United States, at age 19. He studied with several acting teachers in New York, namely

Austin Pendleton Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. Pendleton is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen, whose six-decade career has included roles in films i ...

and William Carden at

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency prog ...

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 Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

and then found jobs working as a waiter and bartender. 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 ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'' is a series of five bestselling Young adult literature, young adult novels by Ann Brashares: ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (novel), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001),'' ''The Second S ...

'' 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. In 2016, he joined the cast of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

''. In 2018 he was featured in the music video " Waste It on Me" by Steve Aoki featuring

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material. Originally a hip hop group, they ...

Personal life

Nam is married to Michael Dodge. They have twin sons (born 2017) together. The family lives in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nam, Leonardo 1979 births Argentine emigrants to Australia Argentine gay actors Argentine people of Korean descent Australian expatriate male actors in the United States Australian gay actors Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Australian male voice actors Australian people of Korean descent Living people Male actors from Buenos Aires Male actors from Sydney Male actors of Korean descent People educated at Sydney Technical High School University of New South Wales alumni