George Takei: How Schwarzenegger's Veto Initiated His Activism | Big Think

George Takei: How Schwarzenegger's Veto Initiated His Activism

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The story of George Takei's coming out is an epic unto itself. For most of his adult life, during which time homosexuality was considered a crime, he had to hide his true self to protect his career as an actor. When he broached the topic with Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, even the progressive Roddenberry balked, convinced that his show would be shut down if it featured a gay character. After decades of quiet humility, Takei broke his silence and spoke out when Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor of California, vetoed a gay-marriage bill. While he fully expected his career to decline as a result, the opposite happened. You can catch his live-action show, Allegiance, currently running on Broadway.

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GEORGE TAKEI:

George Takei is best known for his portrayal of Mr. Sulu in the acclaimed television and film series Star Trek. He’s an actor, social justice activist, social media mega-power, star of the upcoming Broadway musical Allegiance, and subject of To Be Takei, a documentary on his life and career. Takei’s acting career has spanned five decades, with more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television guest-starring roles to his credit. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Actors’ Equity Association, and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

With the outbreak of World War II, Los Angeles, California-born Takei and his family were placed behind the barbed-wire enclosures of United States internment camps along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans. He spent most of his childhood at Camp Rohwer in the swamps of Arkansas and at wind-swept Camp Tule Lake in northern California. At the end of the war, Takei’s family returned to their native Los Angeles. Inspired by this difficult chapter of American history, Takei developed the Broadway-bound musical Allegiance, an epic story of love, family and heroism in which he stars alongside Tony Award winner Lea Salonga.

He is also a member of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender political organization. Takei is Chairman Emeritus of the Japanese American National Museum’s Board of Trustees; a member of the US-Japan Bridging Foundation Board of Directors; and served on the Board of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission under President Bill Clinton. In recognition of his contribution to the Japan-United States relationship, in 2004, Takei was conferred with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, by His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan.

With Takei’s expansion into social media, interest in his personal life expanded. In January 2014, To Be Takei, a Jennifer M. Kroot documentary on the life and career of Takei, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January, and was later released in select theaters across North America. Among his many accomplishments are a Grammy nomination Takei shared with Leonard Nimoy, in 1987, in the Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording category. He has received a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame in 1986. And in 1991, Takei left his signature and hand print, in cement, in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

As an author, Takei’s first book, his autobiography, To the Stars, was published in 1994; and in 2012 and 2013 he published his second and third books, Oh Myyy! There Goes The Internet, and its sequel, Lions And Tigers And Bears: The Internet Strikes Back. The latter two books explored his forays on social media and the Internet, earning placement on the Amazon ebook and paperback best-seller lists in 2012 and 2013..........

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TRANSCRIPT:

George Takei: I was closeted for most of my life, my adult life. I wanted to be an actor, which alone, just that alone was, some people thought, a crazy aspiration to have because I am Asian and Asians, first of all, don't have many opportunities to get cast. Plus the fact that there were stereotypes that we were saddled with: Either the cold, heartless killer; the inscrutable person that's got something always going on in the back of his mind leading to suspicion that we could be spies; or the servile; the client obsequious; or the buffoon — all very unattractive stereotypes. So why I would go into acting was something that — well, I'm the black sheep of the family. My parents thought it was absolutely crazy, but they knew how passionate I was......

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