Masi Oka

is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist based in the United States who became widely known for starring in NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as Doctor Max Bergman.

Early life Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka. His parents divorced when he was one month old; he was raised in a single parent family and has never met his father. He was six years old when he and his mother moved to Los Angeles from Japan. At age eight, he appeared on the CBS-TV game show Child's Play. In 1987, a 12-year-old Oka was featured as one of several children on the cover of Time magazine, for the article "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids." Though he was not featured in the article itself, he was acquainted with the photographer who conducted the shoot.

Oka attended Brown University, where he was musical director of The Bear Necessities all-male a cappella group. He graduated in 1997 with a BS in computer science and mathematics and a minor in theater arts. He was also featured in the San Francisco Chronicle with ILM co-worker Anthony Shafer in a pre-dot-com article where he echoed his desire to meld acting and technology. He worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Career

2000–2005: Move to Los Angeles and working actor Oka first tried acting in 2000. He earned a Screen Actors Guild card by appearing in industry films, then moved to Los Angeles. ILM stipulated in his contract that he could work at its Los Angeles branch but would have to return to their Marin County, California, location if he did not get cast for a recurring role that season. Oka was cast in a television pilot, and although the show was not picked up, it satisfied the contract's requirements, and he was allowed to work in Los Angeles.

During this period, Oka landed several minor roles in film and television, such as Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and the "Dances with Couch" episode of the sitcom Yes, Dear. He eventually landed a recurring role as Franklyn on the NBC comedy Scrubs.

2006–2010: Heroes and mainstream recognition In 2006, Oka was cast as the time-manipulating Hiro Nakamura in the NBC television series Heroes. Oka translated his own dialogue for the show, from English to Japanese; English subtitles accompanied his Japanese dialogue on the show. Prior to this, he was expecting to forgo acting by the end of that year's pilot season in lieu of pursuing writing and producing. Heroes was a breakout hit, and his portrayal of Nakamura earned him nominations for both a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, the only actor on the show to be nominated on either award shows. He was named the Coolest Geek at the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007. In 2007, he presented an award with Heroes co-star Hayden Panettiere on the 20th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

In addition to his work on the show, he continued to work at ILM up to three days a week as a research and development technical director, writing programs that create special effects. He joined the show's main cast in the second series. His character was written as an ethnic Japanese who was adopted at birth by Jewish parents, hence his last name. Oka also made an appearance in the film Friends with Benefits.

In 2015, Oka reprised his role as Hiro Nakamura in NBC's miniseries Heroes Reborn.

Oka has turned his digital effects skills to video game production, founding the video game development studio Mobius Digital, where he was a producer on the critically acclaimed Outer Wilds.

He played the character Ringo in the 2023 animated Netflix series Blue Eye Samurai.

Personal life Oka is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. He worked on the 1992 Summer Olympics as an English, Spanish, and Japanese translator. He played chess in his youth and had a peak USCF Elo rating of 2080.

Similar to his character Hiro Nakamura, Oka also collects manga. He co-produced the 2017 American adaptation of the manga series Death Note. He also founded the video game studio Mobius Digital Games, mainly known for its game Outer Wilds.

He has earned the rank of black belt in kendō (Japanese fencing).

Filmography

Audiobooks, Audio Entertainment, and Podcasts Year Title Role 2013 World War Z Kondo Tatsumi

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 2001 Dharma & Greg Nien-Jin Episode: "The End of the Innocence: Part 2" Citizen Baines Staffer Dan Episode: "The Whole Thump-Thump-Thump" Gilmore Girls Philosophy Student Episode: "The Road Trip to Harvard"2002 Yes, Dear Talking Rock Episode: "Dances with Couch" Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Male Council Member Episode: "The Whole Ball of Wax" She Spies Guy Episode: "Fondles" Various 4 episodes Scrubs Franklyn 5 episodes 2003 On the Spot Japanese Tourist Episode: "Little Brenda Dynamite" Luis Deng Wu 9 episodes 2004 Still Standing Ronald Episode: "Still Bill's Dad" All of Us Edwin Episode: "Home for Christmas?" 2005 Less Than Perfect Hideki Episode: "I Just Don't Like Here"Reno 911! Translator Joey Arthur God Wears My Underwear Brother Eo Voice only Punk'd Translator Season 5 2006 Reba IRS Agent Phung Episode: "Don't Mess with Taxes" Without a Trace Wei Fan Episode: "Check Your Head" Wang Episode: "The Year of the Dog" Clerk Episode: "Batteries" Heroes Hiro Nakamura 66 episodes2007 Jane Doe: Ties That Bind Agent Osaka Television film Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Himself Episode: "The Harriet Dinner"; uncredited Robot Chicken Japanese Mr. Rogers / Chachi Voice only 2007–2008 Reno 911! Foreign Tourist, Japanese Translator 3 episodes 2008 Discovery Atlas Narrator Episode: "Japan Revealed" ; 2019 Hawaii Five-0 Doctor Max Bergman Recurring (Season 1);Main (Seasons 2–7); 97 episodes; Guest (Season 10) 2015 Heroes Reborn Hiro Nakamura 3 episodes 2018 Mozart in the Jungle Fukumoto 4 episodes 2021 Star Wars: Visions Ethan (voice) Short film: "The Ninth Jedi": English language dub 2023 Blue Eye Samurai Ringo /Muñones Voice only 2025 Light & Magic Himself 2 episodes 2026 Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi Ethan (voice) English language dub

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2007 Cars Mater-National Championship Koji Voice role 2007 Driver '76 Jimmy Yip Voice role 2019 Outer Wilds Producer

Production work

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: ILM2000 Mission to Mars Technical support: ILM Digital artist: ILM 2002 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones Digital effects artist: ILM2003 Hulk Technical director: ILM Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines CG artist: ILM2005 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

Awards and nominations