Star Trek star-turned-LGBT advocate George Takei stars in a new documentary shedding light on his personal life, reports NPR.
To Be Takei narrates Takei’s journey as a Hollywood actor in the 1960s to his present-day role as an activist for LGBT rights. Lesser-known aspects of his life, such as his time in the Japanese American concentration camps, are also brought to life in the film.
Following Japan’s 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced into concentration camps by the U.S. government. Takei, then 5, was incarcerated with his family at a camp in Arkansas where he spent nearly four years of his childhood.
The film also charts Takei’s success portraying Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek series, his life as a closeted gay actor, and his ultimate decision to publicly come out in 2005.
“I desperately and passionately wanted a career as an actor, so I chose to be in the closet. I lived a double life. And that means you always have your guard up,” Takei said in his interview with NPR.
Today, Takei is a spokesman for LGBT rights with a legion of fans and followers. Takei has been married to partner Brad Altman since 2005.
Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot, To Be Takei had its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and is expected to have a theatrical release sometime later this year.
You can read more and hear Takei himself speak about the film at NPR.