The University of Sydney —in conjunction with the US Studies Centre, Sydney Ideas, and the US Consulate General Sydney— recently played host to social media megastar, activist and actor George Takei, the man best known for his portrayal of Mr Sulu in the acclaimed television and film series Star Trek. Takei reflected on his life, work and personal history in conversation with United States Studies Centre CEO Bates Gill in a sold-out discussion at the University of Sydney. Takei discussed his years of social activism and advocacy work on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community, and his success in Hollywood, including his groundbreaking role in the Star Trek TV and film series. Takei also discussed his complex relationship with the United States, brought on by the imprisonment of himself and his family in the 1940s.With the outbreak of World War II, the Californian-born Takei and his family were placed behind the barbed-wire enclosures of United States internment camps along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans. Takei spent most of his childhood at Camp Rohwer in the swamps of Arkansas and at wind-swept Camp Tule Lake in northern California. Only at the end of the war did Takei’s family return to their native Los Angeles. Takei discussed this difficult chapter of his (and America’s) history and the inspiration it provided for his Broadway-bound musical Allegiance.