10 Great Contributions To Humanity By Star Trek Actors

9. George Takei

James Doohan Scotty Star Trek Generations
Wong Maye-E/AP

One of the most prolific activists from the entire Star Trek franchise, George Takei has perhaps become even more well-known around the world thanks to his actions post-franchise.

After more openly revealing that he was gay in 2005, Takei now acts for the Human Rights Campaign "Coming Out Project" and has toured the US to give talks on his life, including his internment during the Second World War.

Takei has been an active member of the Japanese American Citizens League which in itself has existed since 1929 and continues to work for the civil and human rights of all Americans, lobbying Congress and focusing on important issues primarily in regard to the Asian community. Alongside this, Takei is Chairman Emeritus of the Japanese American National Museum's Board of Trustees, served on the Board of Japan-United States Friendship Commission during the Clinton administration, and in recognition of that was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays Rosette by the Emperor of Japan.

His experiences during the war also led to the development of the stage show Allegiance which had a run on Broadway in 2015 and 2016 after winning several awards in San Diego.

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A Star Trek fan from birth, I love to dive into every aspect of the franchise in front and behind the screen. There's something here that's kept me interested for the best part of four decades! Now I'm getting back into writing and using Star Trek as my first line of literary attack. If I'm not here on WhatCulture then you're more than welcome to come and take a look at my blog, Some Kind of Star Trek at http://SKoST.co.uk or maybe follow me on Twitter as @TheWarpCore. Sometimes I force myself not to talk about Star Trek.