Jesse Eisenberg Is Donating a Kidney to A Stranger

Jesse Eisenberg is taking his love of blood donation to the next level. While appearing on Today, the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t star shared that he intends to donate one of his kidneys to a stranger.

“I’m actually donating my kidney in six weeks,” he said. “I really am.”

The Oscar nominee said he was inspired to donate a kidney after becoming a regular blood donor. “I don’t know why. I got bitten by the blood donation bug,” he said. He went on to say that he was “so excited” to complete his altruistic donation—where a person donates a kidney to a person with advanced kidney disease whom he or she does not know—in mid-December.

“Let’s say person X needs a kidney in Kansas City, (and) their child or whoever was going to donate to them is, for whatever set of reasons, not a match, but somehow I am,” he explained. “That person can still get my kidney and hopefully that child of that person still donates their kidney, right? But it goes to a bank where that person can find a match recipient, but it only works if there is basically an altruistic donor.”

Eisenberg also dispelled the myth that being an altruistic kidney donor could prevent a potential donor from giving their kidney to someone in their family if that situation were to arise. “The way it works now is you can put a list of whoever you would like to be the first to be at the top of the list,” he said, referring to the National Kidney Registry’s family voucher program. He went on to reveal that he put his family members on his list so they’ll be prioritized for a living kidney donation if necessary. “So it’s risk-free for my family, as well,” he explained.

In a separate interview with Today, Eisenberg said that his forthcoming procedure is “essentially risk-free and so needed.” The U.S. currently has an organ donor shortage, with about 90,000 people on the transplant list waiting for a kidney as of September 2024, per the Health Resources and Services Administration. “I think people will realize that it’s a no-brainer, if you have the time and the inclination,” he added.

Original story appeared in VF Italia.