Oka was born in Tokyo, Japan, to Setsuko Oka.[1] His parents divorced when he was one month old; he was raised in a single parent family and has never met his father.[5] He was six years old when he and his mother moved to Los Angeles from Japan.[6] At age eight, he appeared on the CBS-TV game show Child's Play. In 1987, a 12-year-old Oka was featured as one of several children on the cover of Time magazine, for the article "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids."[7] Though he was not featured in the article itself, he was acquainted with the photographer who conducted the shoot.[8] In 1988, he placed fourth in the California state MATHCOUNTS competition and was one of the four students to represent the state of California in the national competition.[9]
Oka landed his first job after graduation at Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas's motion picture visual special effects company, with the hope of one day earning an Oscar for technical work on a motion picture.[11] He was also featured in the San Francisco Chronicle with ILM co-worker Anthony Shafer in a pre-dot-com article where he echoed his desire to meld acting and technology.[12] He worked on the Star Wars prequel trilogy.[8]
Career
Oka in 2007
2000–2005: Move to Los Angeles and working actor
Oka first tried acting in 2000. He earned a Screen Actors Guild card by appearing in industry films, then moved to Los Angeles.[13] ILM stipulated in his contract that he could work at its Los Angeles branch but would have to return to their Marin County, California, location if he did not get cast for a recurring role that season. Oka was cast in a television pilot, and although the show was not picked up, it satisfied the contract's requirements, and he was allowed to work in Los Angeles.
He was featured in a North American commercial for Sega's 2002PlayStation 2 video game, Shinobi, with the catchphrase 'Shinobi's back!' in front of Sega's 1987Shinobi arcade cabinet.[15]
In addition to his work on the show, he continued to work at ILM up to three days a week as a research and development technical director, writing programs that create special effects.[11]
Oka played the coroner Dr. Max Bergman in CBS' Hawaii Five-0, a remake of the original series which aired from 1968 to 1980.[19] He joined the show's main cast in the second series. His character was written as an ethnic Japanese who was adopted at birth by Jewish parents, hence his last name. Oka also made an appearance in the film Friends with Benefits.
Oka has turned his digital effects skills to video game production, founding the video game development studio Mobius Digital, where he was a producer on the critically acclaimed Outer Wilds.[21]
Similar to his character Hiro Nakamura, Oka also collects manga.[24] He co-produced the 2017 American adaptation of the manga series Death Note. He also founded the video game studio Mobius Digital Games, mainly known for its game Outer Wilds.[25]
