George Takei

His father was an Anglophile, and named him George Takei after King George VI of the United Kingdom, whose coronation took place on May 12th, 1937.

Has stated that his favourite "Star Trek" (1966) episode is "Star Trek: The Naked Time (#1.4)" (1966).

In 1996, Takei became the first "Star Trek" (1966) actor to go to a South American convention, in São Paulo, Brazil.

When he met with Gene Roddenberry about a role on "Star Trek" (1966), Roddenberry called him Takei (pronouncing it "Ta-kai"), which translates from Japanese to "expensive" (his name is pronounced "Ta-kay"; it rhymes with "OK"). This is how Roddenberry remembered his name.

Has appeared in episodes of three different series with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols: "Star Trek" (1966), "Star Trek" (1973) and "Futurama" (1999).

Has appeared in episodes of three different series with Walter Koenig: "Star Trek" (1966), "Diagnosis Murder" (1993) and "Futurama" (1999).

Along with Robert Duncan McNeill and Robert Picardo, he is one of only three "Star Trek" regulars to wear all three uniform colours. He wore a blue (medical/science) uniform in the second "Star Trek" (1966) pilot, "Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (#1.3)" (1966), the gold (command) uniform in every subsequent episode of the series in which he appeared and the red (security) uniform in "Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (#2.4)" (1967).

Has appeared in episodes of three different series with Grace Lee Whitney: "Star Trek" (1966), "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) and "Diagnosis Murder" (1993).

Has been an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University since 1979.

He initially declined to appear in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), but William Shatner personally called him and persuaded him to star in the film.

He initially objected to the scene in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) where the big Starfleet guard calls him "tiny." When the scene was screened for audiences, the audiences cheered Sulu (Takei) when he defeated the big guard, and Takei later apologized to writer Harve Bennett for it.

For the 1988 television special, "The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next" (1988), George Takei explains how he once rode a Los Angeles plane with "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) star, Patrick Stewart. They talked immediately after recognizing one another, but there were complications during final approach, unknown to either actor until landing. He joked to the pilots that the helmsman of the original Enterprise and captain of Enterprise-D could have offered assistance.

Reprised his Hikaru Sulu role for the 2006 Internet-only "Star Trek: New Voyages" (2004) series, after the suggestion of co-star Walter Koenig.

He and his partner, Brad Altman, had been together more than 21 years before they were married on September 14, 2008. After the California Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage in May, Takei and Altman were among the first gay couples to get a marriage license.

An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in his honor.