George Hosato Takei Altman born April 20 1937 is an American actor of Japanese descent best known for his role in the television series Star Trek in which he played Hikaru Sulu helmsman of the USS Enterprise He is a proponent of gay rights and active in state and local politics as well as continuing his acting career He has won several awards and accolades in his work on human rights and JapaneseAmerican relations including his work with the Japanese American National Museum Description above from the Wikipedia article George Takei licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia