Helm officer aboard the original Starship Enterprise under the command of Captain James Kirk. Sulu, born in 2237 in San Francisco on Earth , was initially assigned as a physicist aboard the Enterprise in 2265, but later transferred to the helm. Sulu assumed command of the Starship Excelsior in 2290, and subsequently conducted a three-year scientific mission of cataloging gaseous planetary anomalies in the Beta Quadrant. Sulu and the Excelsior played a pivotal role in the historic Khitomer peace conference of 2293 by helping to protect the conference against Federation and Klingon forces seeking to disrupt the peace process. Sulu had a wide range of hobbies, including botany and fencing. The latter interest surfaced when Sulu suffered the effects of the Psi 2000 virus in 2266, and Sulu threatened everyone in sight with a foil. Old-style hand guns were another of Sulu's hobbies, and he had always wanted a Police Special in his collection. Hikaru Sulu had a daughter, Demora, born in 2271.
Born in the Boyle heights district of Los Angeles, he lived there peacefully with his family until World War Two, when he and his family were forcibly relocated to a detention camp in Arkansas. From there they were moved again to another US internment camp at Tule Lake in Northern California. Originally he was fascinated with architectural design and he began his college education at the University of California at Berkeley. Later he transferred to the Los Angeles Campus of the university. He majored in Theater Arts with a minor in Latin American Studies. Takei made his professional debut in a Playhouse 90 production during the time he was attending UCLA. Concurrent with his university studies, he furthered his training as an actor at the Desilu Workshop. In 1963, he made another leap forward on the scale of experience. He left for Europe, and he attended at the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-on-Avon. Upon returning from Europe to Hollywood, he found that he had to work hard to find acting work, but finally he began to achieve some success. During that time, he racked up credits on such TV shows as Perry Mason, Hawaiian Eye, The Islanders, Alcoa Premiere, Checkmate, Mr. Novak, The Wackiest Ship In The Army, I-Spy, The John Forsythe Show, Bob Hope Chrysler Theater, Bracken's World, Felony Squad, Ironside, It Takes A Thief, Mr. Roberts, My Three Sons, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Twilight Zone and many more. Takei was cast on Star Trek beginning with the second pilot as the botanist, but as the series went into production, he became the helmsman. During the first season of Star Trek, he managed to work in an appearance on Mission:Impossible. During the second year, he requested additional time off when he had the chance to appear in the feature film The Green Berets.
Takei's motion picture credits include A Majority Of One, Red Line 7000, Hell To Eternity, An American Dream, Walk Don't run, Never So Few, Josie's Castle, The Loudmouth, The Young Divorcees PT 109 and Which Way To The Front. After Star Trek, he appeared on episodes of such TV series as Kung Fu, The Six Million Dollar Man, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Chico And The Man, Hawaii Five-O and Miami Vice.
His feature film debut was in the movie Ice Palace. His interests outside of acting include involving himself in political causes. He was a California representative at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, and in the fall of 1973 he ran successfully for Mayor Bradley's vacated council seat in Los Angeles. He has recently appeared in two motion pictures in major roles. One is Return From The River Kwai and the other is Prisoners Of The Sun.
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by Mario Guatteri