Texas Border Business
By Ester Navarro
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – Best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in “Star Trek: The Original Series,” actor and activist George Takei will speak about his rise as a sci-fi celebrity icon and his fight for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, as part of UTRGV’s Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS), Monday, Jan. 28, at the TSC Performing Arts Center in Brownsville.
Takei has made guest appearances on hit TV shows such as “The Big Bang Theory” and “Scrubs.”
Takei spent part of his childhood imprisoned with his family in a Japanese-American Internment Camp during WWII. Today, Takei is an actor, social media mega-power and one of the country’s most popular leading figures in the fight for social justice.
He has more than 10 million likes and 3 million followers on Twitter, leading Mashable.com to name him the number one most influential person on Facebook in 2012.
“The DSS is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students and the community to listen to world-class speakers,” said Lauren Contreras, program coordinator for UTRGV Student Activities.
“Many students and community members do not have the luxury or ability to travel and hear speeches like this, so it is our aim to bring the speakers to their front door.”
DSS is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m. for UTRGV students with a valid university ID, and 7:20 p.m. for the general public.
