Long before he landed a starring role on the hit sci-fi drama "Heroes" on NBC, or before he became an actor and a digital effects artist at Industrial Light & Magic, Masi Oka was introduced to heroism and adventure watching the original Star Wars play out on a movie screen in Tokyo, Japan.
"I remember seeing A New Hope when I was a kid living in Japan," Oka says. "My uncle was a big movie buff and he took me to see it. I don't remember exactly what I saw since I was so young, so I didn't have a real appreciation for it until I saw it again when I was much older. For me Star Wars opens up different worlds to see, and it has a great adventure story that inspires you to be a hero and do great things."
The film had such an impact on Oka that as a child he would create his own LEGO starships for make-believe battles in his bedroom. "I would create a spaceship and another spaceship and then just slam them together to see who wins," Oka laughs. "I also studied kendo [the martial art of Japanese fencing], and so we always took our bamboo swords and pretended we were Jedi. I loved Han Solo but he didn't use a lightsaber, so Luke was a big thing."
Moving from Tokyo to Los Angeles with his family when he was six years old made him feel like an outsider. In his quest to adapt to his new surroundings, Oka found himself relating in some ways to Luke Skywalker. "I identify with Luke in many ways," Oka says. "I didn't have a father figure growing up. And coming from Japan, I was now in a foreign land, trying to find my own destiny, whatever it may be."
That path led him straight to the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic. "I was trying to figure out what to do with my life after college, and realized I had to get a job," Oka recalls. "So when ILM came to our computer science career fair, I discovered I could use computer science to make films and I ended up working for them."
Oka worked as a digital effect artist for such films as Mighty Joe Young, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Hulk, War of the Worlds and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest just to name a few. But some of his most memorable moments involved his effects work on all three of the Star Wars prequels where he developed special software for ILM just to blow asteroids into smithereens.
"In Episode II, there was a big asteroid chase sequence where Obi-Wan was being chased by Jango Fett," Oka says. "And production came to us and said they needed a way to destroy this asteroid into millions and millions of pieces. So I wrote the software that's controllable and fast as well."
Oka also developed software specifically used to try and drown actor George Clooney in A Perfect Storm, though he swears that wasn't an extra incentive to get it done. "No way, are you kidding?" Oka laughs. "George Clooney is awesome!"
After finishing his work on A Perfect Storm, Oka decided to take a risk putting his digital effects career on hold as he pursued acting in Los Angeles. "While I was working at ILM, I also studied acting and I got my SAG card -- a Screen Actors' Guild union card -- that's for professional actors," Oka says. "And I realized that since I didn't have any kids or any family responsibilities except for myself, I wanted to give acting a try."
"But as fate had it, I got a role on a pilot that didn't get picked up, but then it led to my role as Franklin on 'Scrubs,'" Oka continues. "And I was happy with the stuff I was working on in LA, since I was doing Episode II at the time. So it really was the best of both worlds."
In addition to his role on "Scrubs," Oka could be seen in small roles on such TV shows as "Dharma & Greg," "Gilmore Girls," "Yes, Dear," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," "She Spies," "Reba," "Without a Trace" and "Reno 911!" as well as bit roles in the films Austin Powers in Goldmember, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde and Along Came Polly.
In 2006, Oka got the role that revved his acting career into high gear -- comic-book-obsessed time traveler Hiro Nakamura on the pilot of the NBC sci-fi drama "Heroes."
"I love his exuberance and enthusiasm and passion!" Oka says of Hiro. "Think of how many characters on TV these days, even in our show, are so down. They're realistic, but not very hopeful. Hiro is a kid in many ways, with his wide-eyed wonder in an adventure. And he's just so passionate about the world. It's just so cool because rarely do you get to see a character that is vindicated in the beginning. He starts on such a high, he has his dream come true without struggle which is great! Of course, that meanswhen he starts on such a high, you know where he ends with future-Hiro -- on a slow path toward darkness, much like Luke Skywalker. There's a lot of parallels between Luke and Hiro just in relation to Joseph Campbell's 'Hero's Journey' as well."
Other sci-fi parallels will be revealed on the new season of "Heroes" when Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, actor George Takei, makes an appearance as Hiro's father. "It was definitely great; he's amazing, after all he is George Takei," Oka smiles. "He has quite a presence on screen, so we had fun."
As "Heroes" continues to gain a larger audience, Oka isn't surprised by the appeal of the show, which shows a glimmer of optimism in an otherwise grim world. "There's so much despair and crazy things happening in the world it's nice to be reassured that good things can happen and that there is hope if you keep on believing," Oka says. "The genre of sci-fi is about wish-fulfillment. It opens your mind in terms of thinking outside the box, outside what's 'real' in our world. And if we don't think outside that box we can never grow as a species. So sci-fi gives us that creativity, that limitless imagination that we need to inspire ourselves in our own world."
To learn more about "Heroes," visit the official site on NBC.com.
