George Takei is an openly gay Japanese-American actor born on April 20, 1937 in Los Angeles, California. While his family was sent to relocation centers for internment during World War II, they continued to live in the United States afterwards, with Takei attending the University of California at Berkeley and earning a Master of Arts degree in theater. He appeared in films alongside actors such as Cary Grant in Walk Don’t Run and Sir Alec Guinness A Majority of One. Takei is most famous for his role as Lieutenant (later Captain) Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series, and for recently playing Kaito Nakamura, the father of Hiro Nakamura in the popular NBC series
Heroes .
Hikaru Sulu is played by George Takei in the classic science fiction television series Star Trek. A native of San Francisco, he holds the rank of lieutenant aboard the USS Enterprise, serving as helmsman throughout its five-year mission. He is also the ship’s staff physicist, and has a number of hobbies, such as fencing, botany, and ancient weaponry. Sulu is later promoted to lieutenant commander and commander, while still serving mainly as a helmsman, before finally achieving the rank of captain himself. He is then given command of the starship USS Excelsior.
(Image courtesy of TV.MSN.com)