Prolific Person of the Week:

George Takei

"It's okay to be Takei."

George Hosato Takei (April 20, 1937) was born in Los Angeles, California to Japanese American parents, Fumiko Emily and Takekuma Norman Takei. His father was an Anglophile, and named his son after George VI of the United Kingdom, who was crowned in 1937. He was raised Buddhist.

When George was only five years old, his family was relocated to the Rohwer War Relocation Center for internment in Arkansas. His parents, though both born in America, were still viewed suspiciously by the United States government after the involvement of the Japanese conflict during World War II. Later, the Takeis were transferred to Tule Lake War Relocation Center in California. Takei would later recall, "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." 

The family would later be allowed to return to their home in Los Angeles, at the end of World War II. 

Takei attended Mount Vernon Junior High School, serving as student body president, and becoming a member of Boy Scout Troop 379. Upon graduating from Los Angeles High School, he attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he received a bachelors of arts in theater. He went on to complete his Masters degree in 1964. 

Takei began sharpening his acting skills abroad, first attending the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and then at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. Upon returning to Hollywood, he attended the Desilu Workshop--an acting school run by Lucille Ball and her then-husband Desi Arnaz. 

Takei's break-through role as an actor (and perhaps the role for which he is best known) was as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series. It was during his time on the series, that Takei first began to be open about his sexual identity as a gay man. 

Although his sexuality was under speculation since the beginning of his career as an actor, Takei came out publicly in October of 2005, saying "It's not really 'coming out', which suggests opening a door and stepping through it. It's more like a long, long walk through what began as a narrow corridor that starts to widen."  

Takei continues to be active in LGBT organizations, particularly with the Human Rights Campaign's 'Coming Out' project, for which he serves as a spokesperson. 

Takei currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his husband of almost five years, Brad Altman.