George Takei

Actor

George Takei played Lt. Hikaru Sulu on the television show Star Trek and its many movie and video game sequels. He has remained closely associated with the role throughout his career. Takei spent his early childhood with his family in Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. He graduated from UCLA with a theater degree in 1960 and within a few years was appearing in TV shows like The Twilight Zone and Death Valley Days. His run on Star Trek lasted from 1966-69; as Lt. Sulu he calmly piloted the starship Enterprise and represented Asia in the ship's markedly multicultural crew. He reprised the role in six Star Trek feature films, beginning with Star Trek: The Movie in 1979 and ending with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991. He reached a new generation of fans when he became a regular visitor to the satellite radio show of Howard Stern in 2006. The next year he began a series of guest appearances on the TV show Heroes. His 1994 autobiography was titled To the Stars.

Extra credit: Takei's name is pronounced "ta-KAY"... Takei is gay, a fact he first discussed publicly in a 2005 interview with Frontiers magazine... According to IMDB.com, Takei's father named him after King George VI of Great Britain.

Other Star Trek stars include William Shatner ("Capt. Kirk"), Leonard Nimoy ("Spock") and James Doohan ("Scotty").