Musician Eric Nam to Star in Psychological Thriller From Significant Productions, Endeavor Content and AUM Group (Exclusive)

Singer-songwriter Eric Nam will make his acting debut in Transplant, the new feature from Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions (Fruitvale Station, Sorry to Bother You).

Nam, an Atlanta native who built a successful career in the Korean entertainment industry as a solo artist and host before returning stateside in recent years, stars as Jonah Yoon, a top surgical resident at an elite hospital with a punishing drive to succeed under the training of Dr. Edward Harmon, a renowned heart transplant surgeon obsessed with maintaining his reputation of perfection. SAG nominee Bill Camp (The Queen’s Gambit) plays Harmon, and Michelle Okkyung Lee, April Grace and Adam Arkin co-star.

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Whitaker and Bongiovi are producing alongside Jason Park, making his directorial debut on a screenplay he co-wrote with David J. Lee. Transplant, which recently wrapped production in Los Angeles, is co-financed by Endeavor Content as well as AUM Group, the multicultural film fund launched in 2020 by Bongiovi and other Asian American film and technology leaders. Last year’s Passing, also from Significant, was AUM Group’s first completed feature.

“Forest and I love working with feature directorial debuts of auteurs, and Jason came with a brilliant screenplay that dives into cultural specificities, yet conveys immense universal appeal,” Bongiovi said in a statement. “All the filmmakers that we’ve collaborated with have continued to shift the paradigm in Hollywood through authentic representation in narratives, and we see Jason having the same exemplary trajectory.”

Endeavor Content, WME Independent and CAA Media Finance will represent Transplant’s distribution rights.

“With Jason’s skilled and deeply personal storytelling, Eric and Bill’s brilliance and Nina and Forest’s vision and passion, working on Transplant has been a complete labor of love,” Endeavor Content senior vice president of film development and production Dan Guando said in a statement. “We are ecstatic to have all of these amazing voices collaborating on this wonderful film.”

Nam, who is currently gearing up for the fall leg of his There and Back Again world tour (he sold out all 47 North American and European dates in 2022 so far), is represented by WME and EN Management. Bill Camp is repped by Innovative and Franklin Weinrib. Park is repped by CAA and Bellevue, and Significant is repped by WME and Cohen & Gardner.

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