Among the prominent actors known for their roles in popular science fiction series "Star Trek: The Original Series" (1966), George Takei is one of the well known names along with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.
Takei portrayed the character of Hikaru Sulu in the series; helmsman of the spaceship, USS Enterprise. He played Sulu in various other franchises too that included six "Star Trek" feature films and in an episode of sequel series "Star Trek: Voyager."
Besides being a celebrated actor, Takei has also worked for several social causes that include supporting the LGBT rights. He has been actively involved in the politics too apart from his acting career.
Takei had a tough childhood as his family had to undergo numerous hardships during World War II. Born on April 20, 1937, as the actor celebrates his 79th birthday, here are some of his quotes that give a vivid account of his early life and his time with the "Star Trek" series.
"My memories of camp - I was four years old to eight years old - they're fond memories."
"Yes, I remember the barbed wire and the guard towers and the machine guns, but they became part of my normal landscape. What would be abnormal in normal times became my normality in camp."
"I spent my boyhood behind the barbed wire fences of American internment camps and that part of my life is something that I wanted to share with more people."
"But when we came out of camp, that's when I first realised that being in camp, that being Japanese-American, was something shameful."
"You know, I grew up in two American internment camps, and at that time I was very young."
"As you know, when 'Star Trek' was cancelled after the second season, it was the activism of the fans that revived it for a third season."
"'Star Trek' is a show that had a vision about a future that was positive."
Then that did very well at the box office, so before you knew it, we were in a string of feature motion pictures. Then they announced that they were going to do some spinoffs of us.
Source: Brainy Quote
