Japanese American George Takei was born in Los Angeles and named after the crowning of the English Monarch George VI. While growing up in California, Takei and his family were affected by the 1942 Order 9066 internment camps. The difficulties experienced during this time followed them into post-war, but Takei would complete high school and find community as a Boy Scout. Initially studying architecture, he would study theater at UCLA, receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1960 and 1964, respectively.

Takei’s early career consisted of voiceover dubbing, television roles, theater productions, and supporting movie roles alongside Frank Sinatra, Richard Burton, Alec Guinness, James Caan, and Cary Grant. It was his role as helmsman Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek that would solidify himself in pop culture, a recurring cast member that broke racial barriers and a fan favorite at science fiction conventions. Takei is also an activist and icon of the LGBTQ community, openly speaking about his life experiences in his memoirs and documentaries.

William Shatner, is an actor and author who is best known for his iconic role as Captain James T. Kirk of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise in the Star Trek franchise. Shatner is a Canadian immigrant, born in Montreal, Quebec to Anne (Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner. His father was a Jewish emigrant from Bukovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his maternal grandparents were Lithuanian Jews. Shatner began his acting career in theatre at the National Repertory Theatre of Ottawa and at the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. He would go on to play major roles on TV, including Hawaii Five-O and Boston Legal, as well as blockbuster movies such as Miss Congeniality.

In May 1951, he arrived in the United States after being processed at a northern border station, joining an uncle in California where he would start his film career that has spanned over 70 years so far.

James Doohan (1920-2005) of Irish ancestry was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in Sarnia, Ontario where he eventually served in the Canadian Army in 1939. He was a veteran pilot that saw fighting during the D-Day operation and was known as “the craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force.”

After his service and returning to civilian life, he contributed his voice to a radio drama which led him to attend the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto where he earned a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City! His versatility with accents gave him a career shuttling between New York and Toronto, landing him 4000 radio and 450 television credits. Doohan’s career would propel to superstardom when he was cast as Star Trek supporting character James Scott of “Beam me up, Scotty” fame but also contributing to the development of the Klingon and Vulcan languages of the series and filling in for voice roles as needed.

In 1948, Doohan crossed the Northern Border through the port in Buffalo, NY.

Leonard Nimoy (1931 – 2015) is one of the most instantly recognizable characters in sci-fi as Spock in the Star Trek franchise. Nimoy initially appeared as Spock in the original 1966 television series and continued with the role for decades with the subsequent Star Trek movies, TV series, and video games. His impact was so profound that soon after his death in 2015, the scientific community honored Nimoy for his contributions to sci-fi by naming the asteroid 4864 Nimoy after him.

In 1923, Nimoy’s father Max arrived in New York after fleeing the Soviet Union. Sailing on S.S. Pan America from Argentina, Max traveled under his birth name of Mordko Niemoy.