He began pursuing acting in college, which led in to the role of Sulu, to which he returned periodically into the s. Upon coming out as gay in , he became a prominent proponent of LGBT rights and active in state and local politics.
He has been a vocal advocate of the rights of immigrants, in part through his work on the Broadway show Allegiance , about the internment experience. Takei spoke both English and Japanese growing up and remains fluent in both languages. Among them, he had an aunt and infant cousin who lived in Hiroshima and who were both killed during the atomic bombing that destroyed the city. In Takei's own words, "My aunt and baby cousin [were] found burnt in a ditch in Hiroshima.
Upon graduation from high school, Takei enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley , where he studied architecture. In Hollywood , he studied acting at the Desilu Workshop. He appeared in the anthology television series Playhouse 90 , the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Blushing Pearls" both , and a handful of times in Hawaiian Eye during the β61 season, including an eponymous episode as Thomas Jefferson Chu. He originated the role of George in the musical Fly Blackbird!
Eventually Sugihara had to give up the role and Takei closed out the show's final months. He starred as a landscaper of Japanese descent in " The Encounter ", a episode of the Twilight Zone.
Takei guest-starred in an episode of Mission: Impossible during that show's first season in In , producer Gene Roddenberry cast Takei as astrosciences physicist Sulu in the second pilot for the original Star Trek television series. When the series was accepted by NBC, Takei continued in the role of Sulu, who was now the ship's helmsman. It was intended that Sulu's role be expanded in the second season, but Takei's role in The Green Berets as Captain Nim, a South Vietnamese Army officer alongside John Wayne 's character, took him away from Star Trek filming and he only appeared in half the episodes of that season.
