Hollywood, CA -- George Takei may have made his mark on "Star Trek," but he owes his first acting paycheck to the folks who created "Godzilla."

Takei was an architecture student on break from U.C. Berkeley when his father saw a job ad which read, "Japanese Voices Needed," and told his son, "You're a real ham, you could do this."

The future Sulu auditioned and ended up dubbing English translations for the Japanese movies "Rodan" and "Godzilla Raids Again" -- the first "Godzilla" sequel.

The actor -- known for his distinguished voice and unique phrasing -- describes the experience as "the university of voice acting" and says he picked up many techniques while trying to match English dialogue to Japanese actors' lip movements.

Sometimes it was a stretch though -- like the time Takei had to match the Japanese phrase for "stupid fool" and the only English phrase that fit was "banana oil."

Takei will be talking about his long-ago dubbing experience this Sunday (Jun. 27) at a Godzilla 50th anniversary film festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

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