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| Birth Name(s) : George Takei |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full George Takei Biography
George Hosato Takei (born April 20, 1937) is a Japanese American actor best known for his role in the TV series Star Trek, in which he played the helmsman Hikaru Sulu on the USS Enterprise. Most recently, he played Hiro Nakamura's father Kaito Nakamura on the NBC television show Heroes.
Takei was born in Los Angeles, California, to Fumiko Emily Nakamura and Takekuma Norman Takei, who worked in real estate. His father was an Anglophile, and named him George after King George VI of the United Kingdom, whose coronation took place in 1937.
He appeared as Warlord Shank on the show Space Cases. He also provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". In an episode of Scrubs he portrayed a minister that "looked like Sulu." He also provided the voice for The Warden on the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Imprisoned." More recently he guest starred on an episode of Will & Grace playing himself after he came out for the first time on television. In August 2006, he appeared again as himself in the episode "Shawn vs. the Red Phantom", also set at a science fiction convention, on Psych.
In January 2007, Takei began appearing on Heroes, playing the father of Hiro Nakamura, a time-bending otaku who also happens to be an obsessive fan of, among other things, Star Trek. Takei has often appeared on the Howard Stern Radio Show in recent years. His latest was a week-long stint as a guest announcer for the show in December 2007. He has credited Stern for the resurgence in his career.
Takei returned to the Howard Stern Show once again starting on June 12, 2006, for another week of broadcasts. In June 2006, he accepted a Freedom of Speech award for Stern; the award was presented by Talkers magazine. Takei was in the studio again for two days in late September, 2006, where he discussed his participation in an episode of Star Trek: New Voyages as well as his participation in the film The Great Buck Howard. He remarked that his appearances on the Stern show have greatly increased public awareness of his career and have contributed to his being offered more acting roles. Takei returned for a week of shows in mid-December 2006, and his life partner Brad Altman made a rare appearance on the "Wrap-Up Show" that followed the regular Stern show on December 13, 2006. In March 2007, he credited Howard for the resurgence in his career. In December 2007, Howard revealed that Takei was the only cast member that got universally positive feedback from audience e-mails, even listeners that claim to dislike Star Trek enjoy George's contributions. He has made a few appearances with The Killers of Comedy and has appeared alongside Stern cast member Richard Christy (Stuttering John's replacement) at at least one Star Trek Convention.
Takei has developed an interesting relationship with Stern cast member Artie Lange, whom Takei affectionately calls his "cuddly muffin," and the two have become friends despite Artie's notorious penchant for gay jokes and his not being a fan of science fiction. They even spent one afternoon after the show touring New York's Guggenheim Museum together. Lange revealed on the air that George sent him a "lovely card" praising his guest performance on a 2007 episode of Entourage where Takei expressed the desire to one day act alongside Artie.
"We are masculine, we are feminine, we are caring, we are abusive. We are just like straight people, in terms of our outward appearance and our behavior. The only difference is that we are oriented to people of our own gender." This is said to have been taken from a December 2005 telephone interview with Howard Stern, in which Takei described Altman as "a saint" for helping to take care of Takei's terminally ill mother.
In the NBC TV series Heroes, the characters Hiro Nakamura and Ando Masahashi reference Star Trek throughout the series. Takei guest-stars as Kaito Nakamura, the father of Hiro Nakamura, and the license plate of his car is "NCC-1701" - the registry number of the Enterprise.
He appeared on the NBC show, Thank God You're Here, an improvised comedy program, in the episode originally airing on April 18, 2007. Takei walked onto the set, and after a few seconds when none of the other actors uttered the standard first line ("Thank God you're here!"), Takei began the scene with "Thank God I'm here!".
In March 2006, he played himself again in an episode of Will & Grace entitled "Buy, Buy Baby" during the show's eighth, and final, season.
Asteroid 7307 Takei is named in his honor. Upon learning of the decision to name the asteroid after him, he said, "I am now a heavenly body. … I found out about it yesterday. … I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky—just like an asteroid." Gene Roddenberry and Nichelle Nichols also have asteroids named after them. |
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