Some guys had all the luck. Japanese-American actor Masi Oka might have had to settle for a wildly successful career in digital effects and animation, were it not for his pesky tendency to steal scenes in front of the camera. As the breakout star of 2006’s most talked-about new show, “Heroes” (NBC, 2006- ), Oka simultaneously became television’s new “It” boy – not to mention the newest, most prominent Asian face in primetime.Born Masiyori Oka in Tokyo, Japan on Dec. 27, 1974, Oka moved to Los Angeles at the age of six. A 1992 graduate of the city’s exclusive Harvard-Westlake preparatory
Appeared on the cover of Time magazine (August) for a feature entitled “Those Asian-American Whiz Kids”
Began professional career working at George Lucas’ visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)
Worked on films such as “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999) and the live-action/animated comedy, “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle” (2000)
2000
Worked extensively as a digital artist/programmer on Wolfgang Petersen’s shipwreck thriller, “The Perfect Storm”
