Before Star Trek, he boldly went where few Americans had gone before.
April 20, 1937: George Takei, American actor, author, and activist who spent part of his childhood at American concentration camps, was born in Los Angeles.
Before he ever stepped onto the bridge of the Enterprise, George Takei had already been taken somewhere far more defining.
As a child, he was sent with his family first to the horse stalls of Santa Anita, then to Rohwer in Arkansas, and later to Tule Lake.
He never forgot the moment two soldiers came to order his family out of their home — his mother carrying his baby sister in one arm, a large duffel bag in the other, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He would later say that those early memories behind barbed wire remained vivid: soldiers with rifles, rows of barracks, and the sense of fear the adults around him were carrying.
Courtesy of the Takei family
George Takei, born Hosato Takei, with his mother in Los Angeles before their lives were upended by incarceration.
Courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum
Before he was a TV icon or activist, he was just one of many children imprisoned in Arkansas. George Takei in back row, far right. Rohwer War Relocation Center
Courtesy of the Japanese American National Museum
Closeup of young George Takei at Rohwer War Relocation Center. He never forgot when soldiers came to force his family out.
Courtesy of the Takei family
The Takei family in Skid Row, after losing their home, business, and savings. They had to rebuild from scratch.
George Takei at Los Angeles High School, 1956. His family emphasized education, and his academic drive carried him to UC Berkeley and UCLA.
Courtesy of GeorgeTakei.com
George Takei at UCLA, 1960, graduating in theater arts, on his way to becoming an actor and a voice for civil rights.
From Skid Row to the Stage
When the family finally left Tule Lake, freedom did not mean stability.
They returned to Los Angeles with no home, no bank accounts, and no family business to return to. For years, the Takeis lived in Skid Row, rebuilding after the economic devastation of incarceration.
And yet, George Takei kept moving forward.
He attended UC Berkeley, later continuing at UCLA, where acting became more than an interest. It became a way to reclaim voice, identity, and possibility.
For a child whose earliest years were shaped by confinement, the stage offered something radically different: movement, imagination, and a future of his own making.
That future soon took him into television.
The Final Frontier
In 1966, Takei appeared in the pilot-era world of Star Trek, eventually becoming Hikaru Sulu, one of the first Asian American characters in a major American science-fiction series.
At a time when Hollywood rarely imagined Asian Americans as part of America’s future, Sulu changed what the future looked like.
But Takei’s most important role may have come later.
For decades, he has used his voice to tell the story of incarceration, helping new generations understand what happened when fear, racism, and silence were allowed to shape public policy.
Long before the Enterprise, George Takei had already survived one of America’s darkest imagination.
Courtesy of NBC Television
George Takei as Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, 1966. One of the first Asian American characters in a major American television series.
Courtesy of NBC Television
Star Trek imagined a more diverse future. In 1966, a Japanese American officer on the bridge of the Enterprise was almost unheard of.
Courtesy of Arkansas Heritage Sites
George Takei at Rohwer, decades after his incarceration, continuing his efforts to educate the public about Japanese American incarceration.
George Takei’s memoir It Rhymes with Takei, documenting his life and his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.
George Takei in Allegiance, telling the story of Japanese American incarceration through Broadway.
Still Expanding the Future
Takei’s public voice does not stop with Japanese American memory, though it remains central to his work.
After coming out in 2005, he became one of the country’s most visible advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, while continuing to speak forcefully on immigration, democracy, and civil liberties.
His work on the Broadway musical Allegiance helped bring the incarceration story to new audiences, turning his childhood memories into art, witness, and warning.
The child once sent through Santa Anita, Rohwer, and Tule Lake never stopped telling America what fear can do, and what empathy can rebuild.