First role for actor was code writing
Masi Oka Actor
Did computer programming for George Lucas’ company early in career,
Masi Oka plays geeky Dr. Max Bergman on CBS’ revived Hawaii Five-0. If anyone would know about geekdom, it’s Oka, who started his career as a computer programmer for George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic before switching gears and finding acting success on NBC’S He
roes, which aired 2006-2010. We met with Oka in Los Angeles recently on a break from the Five-0 set, where we talked computers, programming and a new app he’s developed for phones in Japan.
The first movies
“The first movie I worked on (as a programmer) was A Perfect Storm. I wrote the software to create the water. So I got to virtually drown George Clooney.” Next up was the first of the Star Wars prequels. “They needed to blow up an asteroid into a million pieces. They wanted to time everything and choreograph the breaking of the asteroid. I did the research, wrote the program and delivered it to production.”
Taking night classes
“I studied theater arts and computer science in college. I hated having the ‘math and science’ label put on me. College was a blank slate — nobody knew who I was. I wanted to try something different. You’re not left brain or right brain. I feel you need to use them both in harmony.”
After college, Oka got his coding job but also signed up with a local theater group, working evenings on his acting. “It was a good contrast to being on the computer all day, to be more artis- tic.” In 2000 he decided to leave coding behind and try his hand as an actor. In 2005, as he was about to give up and go back to Northern California, he was cast in Heroes.
Now in the games business
His Oddsmaker app for the Japanese version of the iphone was recently released in Asia, and he hopes to bring the app to the USA this year as well. (For those who know Japanese: It’s available in the itunes App Store.) Oka describes Oddsmaker as a “hybrid Web series and casual game” that focuses on a daily bet of the day (“How many new followers will Kim Kardashian get on Twitter today?”), using animation and local Japanese TV stars for entertainment.
“When we do the U.S. version, I might be involved” with the Web series, he says.
Eight devices in Hawaii
“I have eight Apple products, including the iphone, imac, MacBook Air and Power Mac. I use them to do some graphic design, writing, editing my photos and designing interfaces for games I’m developing.”
Hardcore coding is in the past
“I haven’t written code for a long time. With production, it’s hard to focus. I miss it. There’s something serene about coding. You’re in there and you know where you need to get to. With art, there’s never an ending. You can always refine it, to get better and better. I’m not coding as much, but still working on games. I’m still going to be connected to technology, and I won’t lose my inner geek, at all. Ever.”