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George Takei

Hosato George Takei, was born to Japanese-American parents in Los Angeles, California in 1937. His mother was born in California and his father in Japan. Mr. Takei named the young boy George, after King George VI of England. The coronation of King George occurred in 1937, shortly after young George’s birth.

By 1942 George and his family were forced to live in converted horse stables in Santa Anita Park during the mandatory relocation order by President Franklin Roosevelt after the December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They were later moved to an established relocation camp in Arkansas, surrounded by swamps and barbed wire. They were later transferred back to California to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center.

At the end of WWII in 1945 they were allowed to leave Tule Lake. Previously in Los Angeles, his father had been a successful real estate businessman. After release the family had no money, home, or business and they were left with living on “skid row” in LA for five years. The harsh experiences of young George’s first decade of life has influenced his activism for his entire life.

He bounced back and was involved in the Boy Scouts in LA, and after graduation, he attended University of California, Berkley and studied architecture. He transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and graduated with a Bachelor and Masters of Arts in theater.

Mr. Takei’s early acting career started with doing voiceover work in English dubbing Japanese monster films. His later acting credits included bit parts on a variety of television and movie productions. Being of Japanese descent, his parts were limited and typically a cliche of characters- gardeners and the like.

The big break came to George when he was cast as an astro science physicist Hikaru Sulu in the television series Star Trek. After the series he appeared in all of the first six Star Trek movies and his character Sulu was promoted to Captain during the run. He felt that was an important advance for his nationality.

Mr. Takei has continued acting and lending his highly recognizable deep melodious baritone voice to various cartoon versions of Star Trek and computer games. His presence at Sci-Fi and Comic-Con conventions draws huge crowds. In 2012, Mr. Takei starred in a musical based on his own and others’ experiences living in internment camps. Allegiance premiered in San Diego, California and debuted on Broadway a few years later. It was described as “shedding a light on a dark corner” of American history.

Mr. Takei is well known for his activism to obtain reparations for Japanese-Americans who were forced to leave their homes, business, and properties and as a result faced huge financial losses that they were never able to recoup. Speaking to Congress in 1981, he shared his experience as a five-year old being forced, by soldiers at gun-point, to leave his home. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill authorizing payments and formal apology to the Japanese Americans who survived internment.

LGBTQ activism has also been one of Mr. Takei’s passions. He “came out” as gay in 2005 and has been in a committed relationship with his partner, Brad Altman, whom he married in 2008. His fellow Star Trek cast mates, Walter “Chekov” Koenig and Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols were his “best man” and “best woman”.

Mr. Takei’s bibliography includes “To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu” published in 1994 is the story of his early childhood and his experience as an imprisoned Japanese-American. He explains his motivations for the various political activisms he’s participated in. Of course he shared his experiences as Mr. Sulu in the Stark Trek TV series and movies.

As a teenager in southern California he did “backbreaking” work picking strawberries. When he heard of the plan by the Japanese-American farmers to cheat the Mexican laborers working along side him, he confronted the Japanese farmers and demanded the Mexican workers be paid the same as the Japanese workers. At that impressionable age, he learned the importance of activism to assist others and how one person could make a difference.

“To the Stars” was selected to be on display at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library for the month of November 2003. Mr. Takei inscribed the book: “Dear President Clinton, with whom I share an Arkansas childhood. Live long and prosper.

“They Called Us Enemy” was a 2020 American Book Award winner, Winner of the 2020 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature, Winner of the 2020 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work, and National Cartoonists Society Graphic Novel Award. Co-authored by Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, Mr. Takei’s graphic memoir is about his childhood imprisonment in American concentration camps during WWII.

The story told from the viewpoint of four-year-old George, it is written and illustrated in a way that is well presented for any age, child to adult. It tells of his feelings then and later realizations how legalized racism behind barbed wire influenced and molded his thinking and actions.

Mr. Takei was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986. In 2004 the Japanese government awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun,Gold Rays with Rosette. Asteroid 7307 Takei is named in his honor! George said: “I am now a heavenly body… It came out of the clear, blue sky—just like an asteroid.”