bonniegrrl | A Hero's Journey: Masi Oka

I interview "Heroes" actor and digital artist Masi Oka about his love for Star Wars and why taking time off from working at ILM to try his luck at acting changed his life forever.

Here's a snippet:
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Taking a leave of absence from ILM, Oka moved to Los Angeles to immerse himself in auditions. "Six months passed and I ran out of money very quickly," Oka says. "So when I was looking for a job, ILM told me that they had a LA commercial division, which unfortunately now is defunct, so at the time I worked from there. My intention was never to leave ILM, I just wanted to try acting while I still could. However, I had it in my contract that if I didn't get a supporting role or recurring role in a pilot in six months I would have to go back to ILM in San Francisco. At that time I was very naïve, thinking getting one pilot should be enough to know if I was going to make it as an actor or not. Anyone pursuing a creative career knows that it's about persevering. It's a marathon, not just a sprint. So it was a gamble in many ways."

"But as fate had it, I got a role on a pilot that didn't get picked up, but then it led to my role as Franklin on 'Scrubs,'" Oka continues. "And I was happy with the stuff I was working on in LA, since I was doing Episode II at the time. So it really was the best of both worlds."

In addition to his role on "Scrubs," Oka could be seen in small roles on such TV shows as "Dharma & Greg," "Gilmore Girls," "Yes, Dear," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," "She Spies," "Reba," "Without a Trace" and "Reno 911!" as well as bit roles in the films Austin Powers in Goldmember, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde and Along Came Polly.

In 2006, Oka got the role that revved his acting career into high gear -- comic-book-obsessed time traveler Hiro Nakamura on the pilot of the NBC sci-fi drama "Heroes."

"I love his exuberance and enthusiasm and passion!" Oka says of Hiro. "Think of how many characters on TV these days, even in our show, are so down. They're realistic, but not very hopeful. Hiro is a kid in many ways, with his wide-eyed wonder in an adventure. And he's just so passionate about the world. It's just so cool because rarely do you get to see a character that is vindicated in the beginning. He starts on such a high, he has his dream come true without struggle which is great! Of course, that means when he starts on such a high, you know where he ends with future-Hiro -- on a slow path toward darkness, much like Luke Skywalker. There's a lot of parallels between Luke and Hiro just in relation to Joseph Campbell's 'Hero's Journey' as well."

Other sci-fi parallels will be revealed on the new season of "Heroes" when Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, actor George Takei, makes an appearance as Hiro's father. "It was definitely great; he's amazing, after all he is George Takei," Oka smiles. "He has quite a presence on screen, so we had fun."
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Read my full interview with Masi Oka on starwars.com here:
A Hero's Journey: Masi Oka