Jesse Eisenberg is taking generosity to a whole new level — by donating a kidney to a complete stranger.
The 42-year-old Now You See Me: Now You Don’t star revealed the news during an October 30 appearance on Today, reflecting on his long-time love for blood donation. “I just have so much blood in me, and I feel like I should spill it,” Eisenberg joked. “I really like doing it, and I don’t know why.”
But Eisenberg is now going beyond giving blood — he’s scheduled for an altruistic kidney donation in mid-December. “I’m actually donating my kidney in six weeks. I really am,” he shared.
“That’s amazing,” host Craig Melvin responded.
Eisenberg explained that his altruistic donation — also known as a non-directed living donation — means he’s giving an organ to a stranger, with the recipient chosen based on medical compatibility. “It’s essentially risk-free and so needed,” he told Today. “I think people will realize that it’s a no-brainer, if you have the time and the inclination.”
The actor also emphasized how his decision benefits his family. Eisenberg, dad to 8-year-old Banner, enrolled his family in the National Kidney Foundation’s family voucher program. “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. So it’s risk-free for my family, as well,” he explained.
Eisenberg broke down the process for altruistic kidney donation: “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. 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.”
The actor first considered donation about a decade ago, though the initial effort didn’t gain traction. “I was with a doctor friend recently and expressed my desire to donate, and she pointed me to NYU Langone Health in New York City as an option,” he said. “I was in the hospital the next day and went through a battery of tests, and I’m now scheduled in mid-December.”
Kidney donation is common but vital: around 5,000 living kidney donations occur annually in the U.S., yet roughly 90,000 people are on the transplant list waiting for a kidney as of September 2024. Most donors are able to resume normal activities within 2 to 4 weeks, per the Mayo Clinic.
Eisenberg also shared that donating a kidney doesn’t conflict with family needs. “I put my family members on my list so they’ll be prioritized for a living kidney donation should they need one. So it’s risk-free for my family, as well,” he said.
