- Masi Oka
-
In this Japanese name, the family name is "Oka".
Masi Oka 
Oka at the Heroes roadshow in Singapore, August 2007Born Masayori Oka
December 27, 1974
Tokyo, JapanOccupation Actor/Digital effects artist Years active 1998—present Masayori "Masi" Oka (岡 政偉 (Oka Masayori); born December 27, 1974) is a Japanese-American actor and digital effects artist.
He has performed in numerous feature films and TV series, most prominently as Hiro Nakamura in the NBC TV series Heroes from 2006 until its cancellation in May 2010. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
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Early life
Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka.[1] His parents divorced when he was one month old; he was raised in a single parent family and has never met his father.[2] He was six years old when his mother and he moved to Los Angeles from Japan.[3]At age eight, he appeared on the CBS-TV game show Child's Play. In 1987, a twelve-year-old Oka was featured on the cover of Time titled "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids".[4] Though he was not featured in the article itself, he was acquainted with the photographer who conducted the shoot.[5] His IQ has been reported at 180.[6]
He attended elementary school at The Mirman School and graduated high school from Harvard-Westlake School in 1992. After he graduated, he worked on the 1992 Summer Olympics as an English, Spanish, and Japanese translator.[7]He graduated from Brown University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics. While at Brown, he also served as the musical director of The Bear Necessities, an all-male a cappella group. Oka described the group as a "brothership."[8]
Oka landed his first job after graduation at Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas's motion picture visual special effects company, with the hope of one day earning an Oscar for technical work on a motion picture.[9] Oka was also featured in the San Francisco Chronicle with ILM co-worker Anthony Shafer in a pre-dot-com article where he echoed his desire to meld acting and technology.[10] He worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy.[5]
Acting career
Oka first tried his hand at acting in 2000. He earned a Screen Actors Guild card by appearing in industry films, then moved to Los Angeles.[11] ILM stipulated in his contract that he could work at its Los Angeles branch, but would have to return to their Marin County location if he did not get cast for a recurring role that season. Oka did get cast for a pilot. Although the show was not picked up, it did satisfy the contract's requirements and he was allowed to stay in Los Angeles. He decided to continue pursuing acting. He landed several guest spots and then a recurring role as Franklyn on the ABC comedy Scrubs. He was also featured in a North American commercial for Sega's 2002 PlayStation 2 video game, Shinobi, with the catch phrase 'Shinobi's back!' in front of Sega's 1987 Shinobi arcade cabinet. Oka guest starred in the Yes, Dear episode "Dances with Couch", aired April 8, 2002.
Oka also has a 20-second spot in Austin Powers in Goldmember where he had to say "It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not".
In 2006, Oka was cast for the role of Hiro Nakamura in Heroes. Oka translates his dialogue from the show's scripts from English to Japanese;[12] English subtitles accompany his Japanese dialogue on the show. Additionally, Oka's real voice is closer to that of "Future Hiro" than the higher-pitched voice he uses as "Present Hiro" as heard during his appearances on Heroes.
His portrayal of the role earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination that year in the "Best Supporting Actor on a TV Series" category and an Emmy Award nomination for best supporting actor in a drama series, the only actor on Heroes to be nominated for both awards.[13] In addition to his work on the show, he continues to work at ILM up to three days a week as a Research and Development Technical Director, writing programs that create special effects.[9] He played the role of Bruce in the big screen version of Get Smart.
He recently played a real estate broker who is trying to sell to Seann William Scott's character in Steve Conrad's The Promotion.
He was named the "Coolest Geek" at the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007.[14] In 2007, he presented an award with Heroes co-star Hayden Panettiere on the 20th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.
Oka plays the American-born coroner Max Bergman in CBS' Hawaii Five-0 reboot.[15]
Oka recently made an appearance in the current film Friends with Benefits.
Interests
Oka is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. His hobbies include kendo[16] where he carries the rank of shodan,[17] playing video games, watching and writing romantic comedies, playing the piano, beatboxing, and singing. He avidly collects manga; his current favorites include Eyeshield 21, One Piece and PLUTO, and he professes to be a big fan of Naoki Urasawa's other works.[18] In 1988, he placed fourth in the California state MATHCOUNTS competition, and was one of the four students to represent the state of California in the national competition.[19] He has been a guild leader in World of Warcraft, a popular MMORPG video game.[20]
Filmography
As an actor
Year Title Role Notes 2001 Dharma & Greg Nien-Jen Guest appearance Citizen Baines Staffer Dan Guest appearance Gilmore Girls Philosophy Student Guest appearance 2002 Yes, Dear Talking Rock Guest appearance Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Male Council Member Guest appearance Austin Powers in Goldmember Japanese Pedestrian She Spies Guy Guest appearance The Jamie Kennedy Experiment Various 4 episodes 2002-2003 Scrubs Franklyn 5 episodes 2002-2004 2003 On the Spot Japanese Tourist Guest appearance Uh-Oh! Asian Man Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde Congressional Intern Uncredited Luis Deng Wu 2004 Along Came Polly Wonsuk Still Standing Ronald Guest appearance All of Us Edwin Guest appearance 2005 Less Than Perfect Hideki Guest appearance Reno 911! Translator Guest appearance The Proud Family Movie Japanese Kid/Announcer Voice only House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim Stanley Tong Joey Arthur Guest appearance God Wears My Underwear Brother Eo Voice only Punk'd Translator Guest appearance 2006 One Sung Hero KJ Reba IRS Agent Phung Guest appearance Without a Trace Wei Fan Guest appearance The Loop Wang Guest appearance The Sarah Silverman Program Clerk Heroes Hiro Nakamura 2006–2010 2007 Balls of Fury Jeff, Feng's mens room attendant Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Himself Guest appearance Reno 911! Foreign Tourist Guest appearance Robot Chicken Japanese Mr. Rogers/ Chachi Guest appearance Jane Doe: Ties That Bind Agent Osaka 2008 Get Smart Bruce Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control Bruce The Promotion Loan Officer 2009 Fired Up Eagle Mascot 2010 Searching for Sonny Sonny Bosco Hawaii Five-0 Max Bergman 2010-2011 2011 Friends with Benefits Darin Arturo Morena As a digital effects artist
Year Title Notes 1998 Mighty Joe Young CG technical assistant: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) 1999 Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace visual effects production and technical support: ILM 2000 The Perfect Storm digital artist: ILM 2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones digital effects artist: ILM 2003 Hulk technical director: ILM Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines CG artist: ILM 2005 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith digital artist: ILM War of the Worlds digital artist: ILM 2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest digital artist: ILM As narrator
Year Title Notes 2008 Discovery Atlas Episode "Japan Revealed" References
- ^ "Masi Oka 1974-". Biography Today (Omnigraphics, Inc.) 17 (1): 99. 2007. ISSN 1058-2347.
- ^ Tavis Smiley (2007-04-27). "Masi Oka". PBS. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200704/20070427_oka.html. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
- ^ Biography Today, p.100
- ^ Asian-American Whiz Kids. Time. 1987-08-31. http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19870831,00.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ^ a b ""Heroes" Star: Former "Whiz Kid"". TMZ.com. 2006-11-27. http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/27/heroes-star-former-whiz-kid/. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Biography Today, p.101
- ^ Biography Today, p.101
- ^ Rapkin, Mickey (2008). Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory, p.11. Penguin Group, London. ISBN 159240376X, 9781592403769
- ^ a b Shen, Maxine (2006-10-15). "Heroes". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20070224190904/http://www.nypost.com/seven/10152006/tv/heroes_tv_maxine_shen.htm?page=0. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Raine, George (1998-06-07). "Now Hiring". sfgate.com. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/06/07/BUSINESS9847.dtl. Retrieved 1998-06-07.
- ^ Gaudiosi, John (2006-10-25). "Masi Oka: Coder, Actor, Hero". Wired. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,71984-0.html. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Keveney, Bill (2006-11-09). "'Heroes' star Masi Oka living the dream". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-11-19-hiro-main_x.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Kuhn, Sarah (2007-02-09). "Airborne at Last!". Back Stage. http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/features/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003544143. Retrieved 2007-03-12.[dead link]
- ^ Casey, Jordan; "Spike TV Holds First Annual Guys Choice Awards Show"; allheadlinenews.com; June 11, 2007.
- ^ "Heroes' Masi Oka to Play Hawaii Five-0 Coroner". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Masi-Oka--Hawaii-Five0-1021822.aspx. Retrieved August 12 , 2010.
- ^ Greg David (2007-01-18). "There goes my Hiro". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2007-02-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20070216184327/http://entertainment1.sympatico.msn.ca/There+goes+my+Hiro/TV_Guide/Interviews/Features/Articles/190107_masiheroes_greg.htm?isfa=1. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ Heroes Season 1 dvd, stunt special feature
- ^ SFX Collection - Special Edition #31: Total Anime, page 15 (UK-based sci-fi magazine)
- ^ "Masi Oka (star of Heroes) on cover of Time in 1987". 2006-11-21. http://www.elegantprofiles.com/blog/?p=4. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ "Dark Horse Comics: Exclusive Interview with Felicia Day!". 2010-04-21. http://www.facebook.com/notes/dark-horse-comics/exclusive-interview-with-felicia-day/389591754100. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
External links
- Masi Oka at the Internet Movie Database
- Daily Telegraph Article
- NY Times Article
- Brown University "From Special Effects to Acting, CS Alum Masi Oka is One of the 'Heroes'"
- Brown Daily Herald by Alissa Cerny 9/18/06 "Brown alum snags big role in NBC series 'Heroes'"
- Time magazine cover - August 31, 1987 (Masi Oka is to the farthest left)
- Video of Masi Oka discussing his role on the hit TV series, Heroes, plus making special effects for the movie, Star Wars.
- Nichi Bei Times Interview
- San Francisco Chronicle Article
Categories:- 1974 births
- Actors from New York City
- American film actors
- American kendoka
- American television actors
- American actors of Japanese descent
- Brown University alumni
- American people of Japanese descent
- Living people
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Japanese emigrants to the United States
- Actors from California
- People from Tokyo
- Special effects people
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