Takei's childhood was not so rosey--at the outset of World War II, he and his family were forced to live in U.S. interrment camps with other Japanese immigrants, but upon his release he returned to his native California and eventually attended Berkely and UCLA. During his college years he got his first taste of life as an actor when he was hired to redub the Japanese dialogue from the Japanese monster movie classic "Rodan" (1956) into English, voicing eight separate characters. Takei's Hollywood breakthrough came in 1959, when he made his feature debut in the film "Ice Palace" starring Richard Burton and his TV bow in the anthology drama "Playhouse 90."

Takei kept busy with dozens of film parts and guest-starring roles on TV (especially the series "Hawaiian Eye," where he guested four times as four different characters). After coming to the attention of "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, who cast him in the original pilot starring Jeffrey Hunter (the pilot, in which Sulu was a botonist and not the helmsman, was later revamped at the network's assistance), Takei brought good-humored dignity and dash to a role that encompassed everything from swashbuckling to displaying crazed passion.

Post-"Trek" Takei had perhaps the richest and most regular acting career of the "Trek" supporting players, continuing to appear on film, stage and TV--highlights include his turn as Capt. Nim in John Wayne's "The Green Berets" (1968), the Australian war film "Prisoners of the Sun" (1990) and as the voice of the First Ancestor in Disney's animated "Mulan" (1998)--as well as becoming actively involved in Los Angeles community affairs and local politics. He produced and hosted a public affairs show with actress Beulah Quo, "Expression East/West," which aired locally on KNBC-TV in Los Angeles from 1971 to 1973.

In 1986, he became the first Japanese-American actor to be granted a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Takei continued to man the helm in the successful series of six big screen "Trek" adventures and a 1996 episode of the spin-off series "Star Trek: Voyager," with Sulu at last granted a first name, Hikaru, and rising in the ranks to captain his own starship, The Excelsior. The actor also remained an active presence in "Trek" fan circles, authored his memoirs To the Stars in 1994 and built an extensive resume as a voiceover artists for animated cartoons, video games, audio books and documentary narration.

Outside of show business, Takei emerged as an influential political force. In 1973 the actor ran for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council and lost by a small margin--during his campaign, his oppenents insisted that, per the FCC's Fairness Doctrine, they be allowed equal television time when Takei's "Star Trek" episodes aired--in a single episode Takei was on air for 17 minutes, prompting each of his 14 opponents to claim equal time--the local station airing "Trek" reruns ultimately had to dedicate an entire evening to airing the other candidates was prompted to shelve all episodes featuring Sulu for the duration of the race (thus depriving Takei of his residual income). He was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley to the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, serving from 1973 to 1984 and later served as a vice president of the American Public Transit Association. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the board of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission, where he served two terms.

In 2005 Takei revealed his homosexuality in the Los Angeles magazine Frontiers, having been with his partner for 18 years. A few months later he joined shock jock Howard Stern's much-anticipated new Sirius satellite radio show as the announcer in January 2006.