Toru Uchikado – Heroes Reborn

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) Were you familiar with original show “Heroes?”

A) When the original series was airing, I was in Japan. I remember it was huge in Japan, too. After I got the part I, of course, watched every single episode. I knew about “Heroes” and I remember Masi Oka was doing promotion for the show and was on Japanese TV all the time back then.

Q) Where we pick up with series and what can you tell us about Ren?

A) The story picks up five years after the original series ended. People with special abilities are now being hunted. I play the character Ren who is a young Japanese guy living in Japan. He is a professional video gamer and he is one of a few characters on the show that is comedic. He is quirky and very interesting. He meets Miko (Kiki Sukezane) in the first episode and they have a great journey together. He is a professional video game player and while Miko is in the game I can get into the game using my avatar and help her out.

Q) How do we follow him this season?

A) Outside of the game world, my character finds Miko and realizes she is a video game character. He helps her realize her destiny and she has some kind of mission. Sometimes we have to get into the game world to complete some missions. I help her throughout the game console. We go everywhere together.

Q) What kind of fan feedback have you received about your character?

A) It was very positive! At the premiere, some people came up to me and said, “Your character was very funny. He is already my favorite character.” So, I was pretty happy about it. I do love my character. I think he is very optimistic and I think it is kind of like Hiro in the way where he was very optimistic and confident. He accepted his destiny without a doubt and I feel like my character is very open and confident. I guess he is very pure. I wish I was kind of like him.

Q) Is there someone you would really like to work with on the show in the future?

A) Definitely Masi Oka! I wanted to work with him because he is kind of like what we call “senpai” in Japanese. I knew about him and he is a big inspiration for me. My brother is a big fan of his, too. I wanted to work with him, but I didn’t get a chance to work with him. I didn’t have a lot of chance to work with a lot of people, but since the cast is really close and tight in Toronto we hang out with each other all the time.

Q) How was getting to work with Kiki?

A) it was great! Kiki is such a nice girl. I think she is very unique. I actually knew her before we got cast and we kind of have similar backgrounds. We both moved from Japan to Los Angeles a couple years ago. She studied English in South Dakota when she was in high school and I studied English in Missouri when I was in college. It really motivates me because we are both Japanese, from a similar background and are close in age. We do get along really well. I think we work well together. Sometimes we have to translate together because we get the script in English and sometimes we get together at a coffee shop to translate together. She is such a great person to work with. It was kind of surprising that she was the one and we knew each other when we got cast.

Q) What has been some of your favorite moments filming?

A) As much as I had a lot of fun with Kiki, since “Heroes” is such a big cast and so many storylines we don’t really get to work with other people all the time. It was fun when our storylines come together and I got to work with Jack Coleman and Henry Zebrowski. It was very fun to work with them. We do hang out together, but we don’t get to work together all the time. It was such a joy. Also, since it was my first TV show, I didn’t know directors change all the time like every two or three episodes. So, I found it very interesting because each director has a different opinion and different style of each character. Actors have to adjust a little bit to each director and I found that very interesting.

Q) What have you taken away from working on the show?

A) Not getting nervous…I was very nervous on my first day and I couldn’t even sleep. I learned to sleep before shooting. Also, it might sound kind of weird, but I was a business student in Japan and I did study acting, but that was in LA. I have acted in Japanese in indie films and student films, but  I’ve never acted in Japan! acting in Japanese and English was a challenge for me, especially in the American-Canadian environment where no one understood Japanese on set except for Kiki. Kiki and I realized we have to communicate with directors and producers well so there is no misunderstanding. “Heroes Reborn” is going to Japan next month so we wanted to make sure we could keep our authenticity.

Q) What can you tease fans should look out for this season on “Heroes Reborn?”

A) My hair is very crazy and he has very mad fashion. It might be something you also want to pay attention to. We do have a hairdresser, but sometimes I try to fix my hair myself. It’s very Japanese hair I think.