Leonardo Nam
Leonardo Nam is an actor, born 1979.
Argentina, then Australia, then the United States. Nam was born in Buenos Aires in 1979 to South Korean immigrant parents, emigrated to Australia as a child, and moved to the States in the nineties specifically in order to act. The route explains a fair amount about the parts he was subsequently offered.
The Perfect Score in 2004 was the breakthrough, as Roy. Then Brian McBrian in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its 2008 sequel, and Morimoto in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006. That is a decade of American teen and studio cinema in which the Asian American supporting part was routinely written as the joke, and his contribution was largely to play it without playing along.
Westworld is the real role. As Felix Lutz he was given a part that asks a performer to react rather than act, which is a thankless assignment, and he turned it into something you looked forward to.
The rest is a jobbing character actor's list and there is no shame in that: Kevin Cross in Vantage Point, Joshua in He's Just Not That Into You, Mr Chan in Yes Day, Harlan Edwards in Swamp Thing, Liorn in Werewolf by Night, Maddox Hatter in Descendants: The Rise of Red. In One for the Money his character is named John Cho, which is the entire industry compressed into one credit.
Movies (23)
- Descendants: Wicked Wonderland (2026)
- He's Just Not That Into You (2009)
- Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024)
- Vantage Point (2008)
- Werewolf by Night (2022)
- YES DAY (2021)
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
- DC Showcase - Batman: Death in the Family (2020)
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008)
- The Perfect Score (2004)
- One for the Money (2012)
- Origin (2023)
- 10 Items or Less (2006)
- Murder of a Cat (2014)
- Quid Pro Quo (2008)
- Happy Anniversary (2018)
- Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee (2007)
- DC Showcase: Death (2019)
- Snake & Mongoose (2013)
- Their Town (2026)
- Room 10 (2006)
- Cat Run 2 (2014)
TV (6)
Where to start with Leonardo Nam
Westworld is the deepest thing on this list and the only place he gets a genuine arc, so start with the first season and continue as far as your patience holds.
Before that, The Perfect Score is the breakthrough and an amiable, forgettable teen caper. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is the one people quote at him, and it is a far better film than its reputation as the odd one out of that franchise suggests. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel gave him the most likeable part he has had.
Of the recent work, Werewolf by Night is Marvel doing black-and-white horror and the best-looking thing he has been in, while YES DAY is the family option.