Actor Jesse Eisenberg has announced he will donate one of his kidneys to a stranger, scheduling the procedure for mid-December. During an appearance on the TODAY show, the 42-year-old shared that the idea started from his regular blood donations and evolved into this altruistic step. According to Eisenberg, the decision felt like a “no-brainer” because the procedure is low-risk for healthy donors and the benefit to recipients is significant.
Eisenberg described his path: “I got, like, bitten by the blood donation bug. I love it,” he said. “And now I’m doing an altruistic donation in mid-December.” He explained how the process works via a donor registry or chain, where a donor gives to someone they don’t know, and that act can trigger further transplants for others in need.
To address concerns about his own family’s future need for a kidney, Eisenberg mentioned the National Kidney Registry’s family voucher program. It allows donors to prioritize relatives for a transplant in the future if needed, so his act isn’t leaving his own family vulnerable.
While the announcement has been widely praised, it also highlights a broader conversation around live organ donation and altruism. According to medical sources, recovery for living kidney donors typically takes two to four weeks, and around 5,000 non-directed living kidney donations occur annually in the U.S.
For now, Eisenberg’s decision is one of the most high-profile examples this year of an actor using his platform for personal humanitarian action rather than publicity.
