Born in Los Angeles, California on April 20, 1940 George Takei (TA-KAY) was interned along with his Japanese-American family following the outbreak of World War II and spent most of his childhood in camps in Arkansas and California .

Returning to Los Angeles, Takei graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1956 and entered the University of Calfornia at Berkeley. Transferring to the University of California at Los Angeles, he received a BA and MA in theater. Attending the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon in England, Sophia University in Tokyo, and the Desilu Workshop in Hollywood, Takei netted his first acting role as the voice of RODAN, dubbing the Japanese lines into English for eight characters.

His professional debut in front of the audience came on Playhouse 90, a live television drama. He went on to movies with a role in ICE PALACE, headlined by Richard Burton. Many guest appearances on television shows such as HAWAIIAN EYE and CHRYSLER THEATER followed, as well as feature films including THE GREEN BERETS and PT 109.

In 1966, Takei received the call for the role of his life, "Lt. Hikaru Sulu," for the second pilot of television's STAR TREK. Originally intended to be an astrophysicist, the character evolved into the ship's helmsman by the time the show went into production. Sulu was noted for being one of the first roles played by an Asian which was not in the typical Hollywood typecasting.

The show ran from 1966-1969, and a massive outpouring of support from the fan community kept the show in reruns and fueled the massive STAR TREK machine of today, including Takei's appearance in six STAR TREK movies. In the last original-cast STAR TREK movie, 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Takei's character was promoted to captain captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior.

Takei stood as a a California representative in the Democratic National Convention in 1972, and ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 1973. The campaign caused local stations to blackout STAR TREK until after the election, with the assumption that Takei's weekly appearances would create an unfair advantage, although his name recognition wasn't enough to win him the election.

In the 1980's, Takei hosted a TV series called EXPRESSION EAST/WEST, dealing with human relationships. He co-wrote with science fiction author Robert Asprin the STAR TREK novel, "Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe," and released his autobiography TO THE STARS in 1994. He received a star on Hollywood Boulevard�s Walk of Fame in 1986, and was immortalized in concrete at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood in 1991. He also received a Grammy nomination for spoken-word recording in 1988.

Takei continues to take an active role in STAR TREK products, appearing in Star Trek Starfleet Academy, a personal computer game, and in the Star Trek Captain�s Chair CD-ROM. He is currently involved in the campaign to convince Paramount to extend the STAR TREK franchise into a new series featuring Takei on the Excelsior.

A life-long runner, Takei has completed five marathons and carried the Olympic torch in the 1984 Los Angeles games. He continues to make television guest appearances and do voice-overs, most notably in Disney's MULAN and in THE SIMPSONS.