Biografija

Early life
Masi 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.[1] 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.[2] His IQ had been measured at a score of 180.[3] He attended elementary school at The Mirman School and graduated high school from Harvard-Westlake School in 1996. He graduated from Brown University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics.

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-cracking, which have been used in multiple projects.[5] He also worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy.[2]


Acting career
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 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;[6] 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. [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 played 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.[8] 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. [Godzilla]'


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 favorites include Eyeshield 21, One Piece and PLUTO, and he professes to be a big fan of Naoki Urasawa's other works.[11]


Filmography

As an actor
Year Title Role Notes
2001 Dharma & Greg Nien-Jen Guest appearance
Citizen Baines Staffer Dan Guest appearance
Gilmore Girls Philosophy Student Guest appearance
2002 Yes, Dear Talking Rock Guest appearance
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Male Council Member Guest appearance
Austin Powers in Goldmember Japanese Pedestrian
She Spies Guy Guest appearance
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment Various 4 episodes 2002-2003
Scrubs Franklyn 5 episodes 2002-2004
2003 On the Spot Japanese Tourist Guest appearance
Uh-Oh! Asian Man
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde Congressional Intern Uncredited
Luis Deng Wu
2004 Along Came Polly Wonsuk
Still Standing Ronald Guest appearance
All of Us Edwin Guest appearance
2005 Less Than Perfect Hideki Guest appearance
Reno 911! Translator Guest appearance
The Proud Family Movie Japanese Kid/Announcer Voice only
House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim Stanley Tong
Joey Arthur Guest appearance
God Wears My Underwear Brother Eo Voice only
Punk'd Translator Guest appearance
2006 One Sung Hero KJ
Reba IRS Agent Phung Guest appearance
Without a Trace Wei Fan Guest appearance
The Loop Wang Guest appearance
The Sarah Silverman Program Clerk
Heroes Hiro Nakamura 2006-present
2007 Balls of Fury Jeff
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Himself Guest appearance
Reno 911! Foreign Tourist Guest appearance
Robot Chicken Japanese Mr. Rogers Guest appearance
Jane Doe: Ties That Bind Agent Osaka
2008 Get Smart Bruce
Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control Bruce
The Promotion Loan Officer


As a digital effects artist
Year Title Notes
1998 Mighty Joe Young CG technical assistant: Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)
1999 Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace visual effects production and technical support: ILM
2000 The Perfect Storm digital artist: ILM
2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones digital effects artist: ILM
2003 Hulk technical director: ILM
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines CG artist: ILM
2005 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith digital artist: ILM
War of the Worlds digital artist: ILM
2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest digital artist: ILM