|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Masi Oka (born Masayori Oka, December 27, 1974) is an American actor and digital effects artist. He has performed in many films and TV shows, and is currently cast in the role of Hiro Nakamura in the NBC series Heroes. He has recently finished filming a role in Get Smart, which is scheduled to be released in 2008. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy Award. He currently resides in Long Island, New York. Some guys had all the luck. Japanese-American actor Masi Oka might have had to settle for a wildly successful career in digital effects and animation, were it not for his pesky tendency to steal scenes in front of the camera. As the breakout star of 2006’s most talked-about new show, “Heroes” (NBC, 2006- ), Oka simultaneously became television’s new “It” boy – not to mention the newest, most prominent Asian face in primetime. Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan. His parents divorced when he was one month old; he was raised in a single parent family and has never met his father. His mother moved to Queens, New York, United States when he was six. At age 8, he appeared on CBS-TV game show Child's Play. In 1987, a 12-year-old Oka was featured on the cover of Time Magazine titled "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids". Though he was not featured in the article itself, he was acquainted with the photographer who conducted the shoot. He received an IQ score of 180. He attended elementary school at The Mirman School and graduated high school from Harvard-Westlake School in 1992. He graduated from Brown University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics. After earning his B.S. in Computer Science from Brown University in 1997, Oka found himself awash in job offers. Turning down a cushy programming position at Microsoft, Oka accepted an entry level job at George Lucas’ famed visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in Marin County, California. After a grueling 18 months of training, Oka got his feet wet with some work on “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999) and the effects-heavy live-action/animated comedy, “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle” (2000). But Oka’s breakthrough came as a digital artist/programmer on Wolfgang Petersen’s shipwreck thriller, “The Perfect Storm” (2000). It was on that project that Oka (under the supervision of ILM visual effects maestro, John Anderson) created the breathtaking computer-generated water effects. Oka’s superlative work on “Storm” dramatically boosted the young programmer’s profile at ILM and led to further work on later films such as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest” (2006). 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. His first major project was co-developing a computer program to generate water effects, which was first used for A Perfect Storm but also used in later films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. He later created programs for computational fluid dynamics and surface-cracking, which have been used in multiple projects. He also worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Oka continued to hold down his programming job at ILM, even as he was becoming a star. Working remotely from Los Angeles, Oka remained active with movie effects, allocating one to two days a week between his “Heroes” production schedule. Said Oka in a 2006 interview with Wired magazine: "I love both acting and programming equally… I think it enriches me and enhances me as an artist. I have a lot of appreciation for what people do in front of the camera as well as behind the camera. I don't think I could like one without the other.” His love of acting may have been bumped up a notch or two above programming when Oka learned that he was nominated for his first-ever Emmy award, getting the nod for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. 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. ILM stipulated in his contract that he could work at its Los Angeles branch, but would have to return to Marin 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 NBC comedy Scrubs. He was also featured in a PS2's Shinobi commercial, with the catch phrase 'Shinobi's Back'. Oka guest starred in the Yes, Dear episode Dances with Couch, aired April 8, 2002. 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; 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 television shows like 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. 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. He will play the role of Bruce in the big screen version of Get Smart. He recently signed on to play a real estate broker who is trying to sell to Sean William Scott's character in Steve Conrad's Quebec. The film was originally slated to hit theatres in May 2007, but new scenes and characters have been added. He was named the "Coolest Geek" at the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007. In 2007, he presented an award with Heroes co-star Hayden Panettiere on the 20th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Oka has a 20 second spot in Austin Powers Goldmember when he states that 'Due to international copyright laws it, in fact, is not. Oka is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. His hobbies include kendo where he carries the rank of shodan, playing video games, watching and writing romantic comedies, playing the piano, 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. Graduated in 1997 from Brown University with degrees in mathematics and computer science and a minor in theatre arts. He has a 180-plus IQ. Name is pronounced as "mah-see". When he was 12, he was on the cover of the August 31, 1987 issue of Time magazine titled "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids". In an interview with TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, he said that as of November 2006, he still works one or two days a week as a CGI artist for George Lucas's special effects company Industrial Light & Magic (at which Oka worked on the effects for such films as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), War of the Worlds (2005), the three most recent Star Wars movies, and The Perfect Storm (2000). He also still drives his old car, a 2000 Honda Accord. Speaks fluent Japanese. One of his hobbies is Kendo (Japanese sword fighting). At age six, he moved to Los Angeles, California, USA, where he still resides. Graduated from Harvard-Westlake School (1992). His character on "Heroes" (2006), Hiro, is Tyra Banks's favorite character on her favorite show. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Celebrities Guide 
| WhoABC
Home : Disclaimer
: Terms
: Privacy
Policy : Contact
Us : Links All original content Copyright Celebrities Guide, WhoABC.com © 2004 - 2008. All Rights Reserved |