George Takei

Born Hosato Takei in Los Angeles on April 20, 1937 to Japanese American parents, George Takei is an American actor, director, author, and activist with a career that spans 5 decades with more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles. At the age of 5, Takei’s family was forcibly sent to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California during the American internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. After the War ended, Takei’s family returned to Los Angeles. After briefly studying architecture at UC Berkeley, Takei transferred to UCLA, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in theater.

In his early years as an actor, Takei started out providing voice overs for characters in Godzilla Raids Again, later moving on to appear in television series like Playhouse 90 and Hawaiian Eye.  Takei’s acting career took off when he was casted for his role as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu over the three year television run of the Star Trek franchise in 1966, becoming one of the few Asian Americans to be given a significant role in mainstream American media. Since the original Star Trek, Takei has subsequently returned several times to reprise his role for six movies and several animated spin-offs. After the Star Trek era, Takei continues to appear on various shows like The Howard Stern Show and in movies like Mulan and The Simpsons. More recently, Takei has starred in Allegiance — a Broadway production about Japanese American internment during World War II, informed by Takei’s own experiences with Japanese American internment.

Away from Hollywood, Takei is an extremely active in public policy. After losing a bid for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 1973, Takei sat on the board of directors for the Southern California Transit District up until 1984. To this day, Takei also serves as the chair of the council of governors of East West Players (Asian Pacific American theater). Beyond his local community, Takei also served on the board of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission and was awarded with the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan in 2004. Takei is also known for coming out as one of the first openly gay American public figures in 2005, and has since married his partner, Brad Altman, in September 2008. Takei is an extremely strong proponent for LGBTQ rights and is very outspoken against any form of homophobia, especially from that of elected officials. Takei is a member of the Human Rights Campaign.

Takei is a prominent figure today, both for his outspoken stances in many human rights issues and his active efforts to change the world we live in for the better. Apart from breaking through as one of the first prominent Asian American actor and activist in America, Takei also runs a popular Twitter and Facebook page.

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/people/george-takei-21232151

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001786/bio

“http://allegiancemusical.com/person/george-takei”