By KK Ottesen, Photo: George Takei, The Washington Post, February 15, 2022
George Takei, 84, is an actor, activist — particularly on social media — and author. His recent graphic novel, “They Called Us Enemy,” chronicles his early life in the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. Feb. 19, 2022, marks 80 years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered all Japanese Americans on the West Coast and the western part of Arizona to be summarily rounded up and sent to internment camps. Takei lives with his husband in Los Angeles.
Let me ask you about maybe your defining role, your “Star Trek” role. Having experienced discrimination against Japanese Americans during and after World War II, what did it mean to you to as an actor to be able to take a role that didn’t play to the stereotypes of what Hollywood was portraying at the moment?
I immediately recognized that this was a breakthrough opportunity for me. For one thing, it was steady work if it sold. I was just doing guest shots here and there. And secondly, it was a part of the leadership team. A breakthrough opportunity, not only for me, but for the image of Asians and Asian Americans on television. The creator of the show, Gene Roddenberry, was extraordinary. He said the Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for Starship Earth and that it was the diversity of this Earth that the strength of this starship comes from.
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