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The story of George Takei, whose latest acting role has him back on prime time, is worth reading even if you're not a Trekkie.

Even though he has been working steadily over the years, both as an actor and as a civic activist, actor George Takei concedes he had not been much in the public consciousness until recently, when he took the role of Haito Nakamura, the distant father of time-bending Hiro Nakamura in the NBC drama, "Heroes."

Of course, that doesn't mean Takei's history as Mr. Sulu of "Star Trek" has been left behind. Masi Oka, who plays Hiro, recently wished his character could tell Kaito, "You're not my father. Mr. Sulu is my father!"

"Well, I am," Takei said, laughing. "They should work it in there. At least, ‘Papa, you look like Sulu.'"

At the same time, Takei said it's fun to play a different character, especially when playing Kaito brings on a host of challenges. First, while Takei is fluent in Japanese, it is not his first language, and so he must translate his dialogue, which he does with the help of a Japanese consultant.

"I have never worked in Japanese, and here I am, doing prime-time television, popular television in Japanese," he said. "So that's a delight."

The other challenge is that he doesn't know what's going to happen from one episode to the next.

"That's what an actor wants to do," Takei said. "You want to act. You want to create a character. And certainly with this one, the linguistic thing brings with it the way he carries himself, his attitudes. I play each scene for what the scene calls for. But then I read another script and then I discover, ‘Oh!' Not oops, but another layer added to it."

Takei has always been active, both as an actor and as an activist. His list of civic accomplishments is staggering: Chairman Emeritus on the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American Museum; 11 years on the Board of the Rapid Transit District (now Metropolitan Transit Authority), where he was largely responsible for the look of Los Angeles' subway stations; on the Board of the East West Players, a Los Angeles theater group. And yet he still found the time to work on 30 different films and hundreds of television guest performances and stage appearances.

Takei, who had been out of the closet with everyone but the press, said that it wasn't hard to finally come out to the public.

"I wanted to make a statement," he said. "But I couldn't make it a duplicitous statement. I had to be honest with who I am."

The statement generated a lot of requests for interviews on gay rights issues, as well as a cross-country speaking tour with the Human Rights Campaign.

"That generated more press in the various cities where I spoke," Takei said. "And when you get a lot of press, the industry gets more interested."

As to whether all the press won him the "Heroes" gig, Takei demurred.

"I think [producer] Tim Kring has good taste, high standards and is very perceptive," he said. "And I laud him for that."