Masi Oka, the breakout star of NBC’s rookie hit "Heroes," is putting on his poker face for the casino-set thriller "21." The film is inspired by the true story of a group of men who learned the art of card counting and won millions of dollars gambling. Oka is in talks to play a supporting role. The Columbia Pictures project is based on Ben Mezrich’s best-seller "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions." Jim Sturgess will star in the long-gestating project, which picked up steam last year when director Robert Luketic dropped out of a big-screen adaptation of "Dallas" to take the helm of "21." The blackjack tale is scheduled to begin shooting in February in Boston and Las Vegas. Oka, who once appeared on the cover of Time magazine under the headline "Those Asian-American Whiz Kids," worked for years as a computer-animation artist at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic on such films as "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" and the recent "Star Wars" trilogy. He is nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as Hiro Nakamura on "Heroes."
The Hollywood Reporter
I did not know he worked as a computer animation artist, how cool is that?
