September 07, 2022
JoJo Whilden/Netflix
Former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asmomugha plays Somerset County Detective Danny Baldwin in Netflix's upcoming crime drama 'The Good Nurse,' which examines the downfall of New Jersey and Pennsylvania serial killer Charles Cullen.
Former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha continues to make strides in his post-football acting career, landing a role in the upcoming Netflix drama "The Good Nurse."
On Wednesday, Netflix released the first trailer for the movie about the true story of serial killer Charles Cullen, played by Eddie Redmayne. Cullen, a nurse, admitted to taking the lives of at least 40 patients at nine hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania during a 16-year stretch from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.
To kill his victims, Cullen would use intravenous fluid bags to administer lethal doses of unsuspecting drugs, such as insulin, epinephrine and the heart medication digoxin. He would order the drugs secretly and attempt to cover his actions up by tweaking electronic records.
For years, he bounced from hospital to hospital, getting fired repeatedly under suspicious circumstances that administrators and authorities failed to investigate thoroughly.
The case against Cullen was sharpened during his time at Somerset Medical Center, where he worked with a young nurse named Amy Loughren, played in the movie by Jessica Chastain. Loughren befriended Cullen as the hospital's concerns about unusual patient deaths mounted. She eventually became a confidential informant for police and helped bring Cullen down, as detailed in Charles Graeber's book, "The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder."
In the movie, Asomugha plays Detective Danny Baldwin, who works alongside partner Tim Braun, played by Noah Emmerich.
"He's been killing people without ever touching them," Asomugha says in the trailer.
Cullen ultimately cooperated with authorities to avoid the death penalty, but he's currently serving 18 consecutive life sentences at a New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.
Asomugha, a star cornerback for the formerly Oakland Raiders, signed a marquee, $60 million free agent contract with the Eagles during the 2011 offseason. He spent two years in Philadelphia, where he and the rest of the team failed to meet expectations during the tail end of head coach Andy Reid's tenure. Asomugha retired from the NFL in 2013.
Since becoming an actor, Asomugha, 41, has had several notable roles on film and on the stage. He played Carl King in the 2017 crime drama "Crown Heights," earning nominations for several awards, and also served as an executive producer on the award-winning war drama "Beasts of No Nation." On Broadway, he starred in "A Soldier's Play," a murder mystery about the death of a sergeant in an all-Black U.S. Army unit.
Asomugha may be carving out a niche for himself in crime dramas, which could make him more of a household name as an actor after a high-profile NFL career.
"The Good Nurse," directed by Tobias Lindholm and written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns, premiers on Netflix on Oct. 26 after a limited theatrical release on Oct. 19.
