Masayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist who became widely known for his role on NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura 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 his mother and he 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. In 1988, he placed fourth in the California state MATHCOUNTS competition and was one of the four students to represent the state of California in the national competition. Oka attended Brown University, where he served as the 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. Oka landed his first job after graduation at Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas's motion picture visual special effects company, with the hope of one day earning an Oscar for technical work on a motion picture. Oka 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.
Acting 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 location if he did not get cast for a recurring role that season. Oka later got cast on a pilot. Although the show was not picked up, it did satisfy the contract's requirements and he was allowed to stay in Los Angeles. During this period, Oka landed several minor roles in film and television, such as Austin Powers in Goldmemberand the "Dances with Couch" episode of Yes, Dear. He eventually got a recurring role as Franklyn on the NBC comedy Scrubs. He was also featured in a North American commercial for Sega's 2002PlayStation 2video game, Shinobi, with the catch phrase 'Shinobi's back!' in front of Sega's 1987 Shinobi arcade cabinet.
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 seasonin lieu of pursuing writing and producing. Heroes turned out to be 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 played the role of Bruce in the big screen version of Get Smart. He played a real estate broker who is trying to sell to Seann William Scott's character in Steve Conrad's The Promotion.
2010–present: ''Hawaii Five-0'' and other projects
Oka plays the coroner Dr. Max Bergman in CBS' Hawaii Five-0, a remake of original series which aired from 1968 to 1980. 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 Heroes Reborn. Oka has also turned his digital effects skills to video game production, founding the video game development studio Mobius Digital.
Personal life
Oka is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. He worked on the 1992 Summer Olympics as an English, Spanish, and Japanese translator. 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, which is mainly known for its game Outer Wilds. He has earned the rank of black belt in kendō.
