George Takei

Personal context

Summary

George Takei is an actor best known for playing Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, with a career spanning television, film, theater, and voice work. His later work includes the musical Allegiance and the graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy, both drawing on his childhood incarceration in U.S. camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. He has described educating Americans about that history as his life’s mission and has spoken out against anti-Asian discrimination, immigration policies, and Donald Trump’s rhetoric. Since publicly coming out in 2005, he has advocated for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, including through a nationwide speaking tour and work with the Human Rights Campaign.