1. Masayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist 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.
Masi Oka's parents divorced when he was one month old; he was raised in a single parent family and has never met his father.
Masi Oka was six years old when he and his mother moved to Los Angeles from Japan.
Masi Oka attended Brown University, where he was musical director of The Bear Necessities all-male a cappella group.
Masi Oka graduated in 1997 with a BS in computer science and mathematics and a minor in theater arts.
Masi Oka was 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.
Masi Oka earned a Screen Actors Guild card by appearing in industry films, then moved to Los Angeles.
Masi 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.
Masi Oka eventually landed a recurring role as Franklyn on the NBC comedy Scrubs.
In 2006, Masi Oka was cast as the time-manipulating Hiro Nakamura in the NBC television series Heroes.
Masi Oka translated his own dialogue for the show, from English to Japanese; English subtitles accompanied his Japanese dialogue on the show.
Masi Oka was named the Coolest Geek at the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13,2007.
Masi Oka played the role of Bruce in the big screen version of Get Smart.
Masi Oka played a real estate broker who is trying to sell to Seann William Scott's character in Steve Conrad's The Promotion.
Masi Oka played the coroner Dr Max Bergman in CBS' Hawaii Five-0, a remake of the original series which aired from 1968 to 1980.
Masi Oka joined the show's main cast in the second series.
Masi Oka's character was written as an ethnic Japanese who was adopted at birth by Jewish parents, hence his last name.
Masi Oka made an appearance in the film Friends with Benefits.
In 2015, Masi Oka reprised his role as Hiro Nakamura in NBC's miniseries Heroes Reborn.
Masi 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.
Masi Oka worked on the 1992 Summer Olympics as an English, Spanish, and Japanese translator.
Masi Oka played chess in his youth and had an Elo rating of 1800.
Masi Oka co-produced the 2017 American adaptation of the manga series Death Note.
Masi Oka founded the video game studio Mobius Digital Games, mainly known for its game Outer Wilds.
Masi Oka has earned the rank of black belt in kendo.