Masi Oka Source

Masi Oka's Biography

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Masi Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 6 years old. Along with standard elemetary school, he attended Saturday school in L.A. where he learned English, U.S. history, etc.

He graduated from Brown University with a major in Computer Science and Mathematics and a minor in Theatre Arts.

Masi spent a number of years working for visual effects studios, most notably George Lucas's "Industrial Light & Magic." During this time he worked on such popular films as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, War of the Worlds and Star Wars (episodes I - III).

Masi has acted in a number of popular television series and films such as Without a Trace, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.

Masi currently resides in Los Angeles.

Masi Oka or Hiro Nakamura on Tonight Show with Jay Leno

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Masi Oka in Heroes Pictures 3

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Hiro Nakamura in Heroes Pictures 3

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Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura in Heroes Photo Gallery 2

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Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura in Heroes Pictures 1

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Who is Masi Oka?

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Source: Wiki

Masi Oka (Japanese: マシ・オカ, birth name: Masayori Oka (岡政偉 Oka Masayori^?)), born December 27, 1974} is a Golden-Globe and Emmy-nominated Japanese-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 currently resides in California.

The Interests of Masi Oka

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Source: Wiki

Interests

Oka is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. His hobbies include kendo[9] where he carries the rank of shodan,[10] playing video games, watching and writing romantic comedies, playing the piano, and singing. He avidly collects manga; his current facourites include Eyeshield 21, One Piece and PLUTO, and he professes to be a big fan of Naoki Urasawa's other works besides the latter[11]. He attended elementary school at Mirman School and graduated high school from Harvard-Westlake School in 1992. He has stated in an interview on G4tv that he has played World of Warcraft extensively and was an officer of a guild in the past on the Spinebreaker realm.

The Career of Masi Oka

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Source: Wiki

Career

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. [4] 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-tracking, which also became used in multiple projects.[5] He has also worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy.[2]

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.[5] ILM stipulated in his contract that he could work at its Los Angeles branch, but would have to return to San Francisco 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;[6] English subtitles accompany his Japanese dialogue on the show. Many of his co-stars portraying Japanese characters speak with thick American accents.[citation needed] Oka's accent is only slight, though noticeable to any native Japanese speaker.[citation needed] 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. [7] 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.[4] He will play the role of Bruce in the big screen version of Get Smart.

He recently signed on to play a realtor 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.[8] In 2007, he presented an award with costar Hayden Panettiere on the 20th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

The Early Life of Masi Oka

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Early life

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Oka's parents divorced when he was one month old. His mother moved to Los Angeles, California, United States when he was six.[1] He was raised in a single parent family, and has never met his father.[1] In 1987, a 10-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.[2] He has an IQ of 180.[3] Ten years later, he graduated from Brown University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics.