Westworld Man Crush Monday: Three cheers for Leonardo Nam!

It’s Westworld Man Crush Monday and this week we set our eyes on the adorable Leonardo Nam!

Westworld gave us Leonardo Nam in the form of Felix Lutz and it’s safe to say we fell in love with him immediately. And in the spirit of Man Crush Monday, we can’t help but gush over this adorable man and everything he represents.

What makes him more loveable is that when asked during an interview what his dream role would be, Nam confessed it would be James Bond. We are so in for that–what do you guys think?

Nam was born in Buenos Aires and grew up in Australia as the son of two Korean immigrants. He is the youngest of three kids and his parents worked hard to provide a good life for him and his siblings. Around the age of 12, Nam stumbled upon the world of acting when he had to give a monologue in his public speaking class.

This was just the start of what was to come for Nam who started doing plays and even producing them alongside his brother. In fact, he was responsible for creating the first drama department at his school. As the days of college applications came upon him, he hesitated to pursue acting and opted for architecture instead.

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But as he spent his days at the University of New South Wales in physics class, he decided to audition in secret at Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art, basically Australia’s Juilliard, and made it all the way to the final round!

While he didn’t get into the program, this was enough to push him into acting fulltime.

He met resistance at home with his parents because Asian men weren’t really in the acting business, and it wasn’t certain he’d even make money from it.

And just like that, Nam of Westworld went off to New York City and attended HB Studio. But things weren’t exactly easy for him when he first got there and knowing no one else in the city, Nam slept in Central Park a few nights before going to a hostel.

And if you weren’t enamored by his story already, then you will be after learning that he continued to struggle with side jobs until he got the role of his dreams in the Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Twelfth Night. He was so excited about this play that he initially turned down a role in The Perfect Score starring Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans to be in it.

It was the play’s casting director that knocked some sense into him and the decision to eventually take on the film would change his life forever. He went on to be in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and He’s Just Not That Into You after moving to Los Angeles.

As an Asian actor, he faced racism in the workplace and would often get the cliche roles or incorrect roles as a result. When he starred in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as a character that was blonde hair, blue-eyed in the book, it created quite the uproar amongst fans of the book.

But despite the struggles and roadblocks, Nam went on to make quite the name for himself and in 2016 his life changed forever when he was cast as Felix Lutz on Westworld. Sigh, what a story right?

What is your favorite Leonardo Nam moment in Westworld?