Masayori "Masi" Oka (岡 政偉 Oka Masayori) (born December 27, 1974) is a Japanese-American actor,producer and digital effects artist. He became widely known for his role on NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as Doctor Max Bergman.
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 did get cast for 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. He decided to continue pursuing acting. He landed several guest spots and then a recurring role as Franklyn on the NBC/ABC comedy Scrubs. He was also featured in a North American commercial for Sega's 2002 PlayStation 2 video game, Shinobi, with the catch phrase 'Shinobi's back!' in front of Sega's 1987 Shinobi arcade cabinet. Oka guest starred in the Yes, Dear episode "Dances with Couch", which aired on April 8, 2002. He appeared briefly in 2002's Austin Powers in Goldmember, where he delivered the line "It looks like Godzilla, but due to international copyright laws, it's not".
In 2006, Oka was cast for the role of Hiro Nakamura in Heroes. Oka himself translated his dialogue from the show's scripts from English to Japanese;English subtitles accompanied his Japanese dialogue on the show. Additionally, Oka's real voice is closer to that of "Future Hiro" than the higher-pitched voice he uses as "Present Hiro" as heard during his appearances on Heroes. His portrayal of the role earned him nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor on a TV Series and the Primetime Emmy Award for best supporting actor in a drama series, the only actor on Heroes to be nominated for both 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.
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.
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 March 2015, Oka announced that he will reprise his role as Hiro Nakamura in NBC's Heroes Reborn.
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