04:00 PM by 
Masi Oka became famous by playing Hiro Nakamura, a fan favorite character on the NBC hit show “Heroes.” Masi’s character is a comic-book-loving optimist who discovers he has the ability to manipulate time and space.
“When I was a kid, I kept saying that I wanted to win Oscars in the technical and creative fields, to show the world that the human brain has two sides.” Masi Oka has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy Award.
Masi graduated from Brown University in 1997, with a B.S. in computer science, mathematics and a minor in theater arts. Though Oka participated in a few theater productions while at Brown, he dedicated the majority of his extracurricular time to the Bear Necessities a cappella group. (He served as the group’s musical director.) “Lucas Films came to our career fair my senior year,” he said. “Until then I hadn’t even considered that I could use my knowledge of computer science to work on films.”
He went on to work for George Lucas’ powerhouse visual effects studio, Industrial Light & Magic, and has worked on more than 30 big-budget Hollywood films. He has also written more than 20 programs and 100 plug-ins for the leading special-effects house on movies like The Perfect Storm, Star Wars: Episode II, Terminator 3 and the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
After a few years, Masi asked ILM to transfer him to its Los Angeles office so he could pursue a career in acting (while continuing to work on special effects). He was allowed to transfer on the condition that he would return to San Francisco if he did not successfully land a pilot or recurring role within one year. So, he moved with no connections and little direction.
“I started from scratch,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to get some Asian roles that are otherwise pretty closed. When you start acting your first roles are often very specialized and can help you find some way to stand out. I can do comedy and the pool of funny Asian-American males is relatively small so that really helped.”
Lucky for him, he got to work on a pilot for Straight White Male, a half-hour, single-camera comedy for FX. Though Oka’s career has begun to accelerate, he continues to work for ILM and said he is very thankful for the company’s support.
“I love both acting and programming equally,” said Masi, who enjoys challenging both sides of his brain. “I think it enriches me and enhances me as an artist. I have a lot of appreciation for what people do in front of the camera as well as behind the camera. I don’t think I could like one without the other. Eventually, I think the road will lead me down to producing or directing, because it’s more about problem solving.”
Source
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2006/10/71984
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masi_Oka
http://www.cs.brown.edu/news/2006/0929.Heroes.html
