'Heroes' regular had double duty

Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith, Special to the Rocky

Published November 5, 2007 at midnight

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Heroes regular Masi Oka reports it took superhuman effort to juggle shooting his hit NBC show with the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Get Smart, starring Steve Carell.

Recalling last season's Heroes finale, he notes, "I shot it simultaneously with the movie, and it was pretty intense."

Oka, who plays the gadgetmeister in the feature inspired by the hit TV spy spoof of the '60s, explains, "Usually if you're on a project, production has to do what's called a turnaround, which means if you wrap one day, they have to give you at least a 12-hour break. But because I was on different productions, I could be released at midnight on one show and then have to show up at 4 a.m. on the other."

Heroes fans know that Oka's character, Hiro Nakamura, has been stuck in the past in feudal Japan for the first few episodes of the season. Oka says, "That storyline will be wrapping very quickly. In episode 7" - which airs tonight - "we come back to the present, and what happened with Hiro and his father in the present is probably going to be the main motivation moving him forward."

He says the troupe got a jump-start on the pending writers' strike, but they're only halfway through the 24-episode order for this season. Oka says he understands the pros and cons of the potential strike but points out that while producers, writers, actors and directors haggle over income generated by a movie or series, below-the- line crew members have nothing to gain from a strike and much to lose.

"I feel bad for them," notes Oka, who's also worked as a research-and-development technical director, creating special effects for George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic company. "With anything, any relationship . . . people have to understand the greater good and reach a compromise."

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: "Losing my mom had a profound effect on my life," admits former SNL star Molly Shannon, who takes her own role of mother and wife most seriously. She was only 4 when she was in a car crash that killed her 34-year-old mother, 3-year-old sister and 25-year-old cousin. "Now that I am a mom, I don't want to miss anything because my mom missed a lot and I missed out on a lot with her."

Shannon admits balancing work and family can be hard, which is why she could relate to her latest role as a overworked mother in Lifetime's More of Me, premiering Nov. 19. Shannon's character is able to split into three versions - the perfect person at work, the perfect mother and the perfect wife.

Shannon tells us family will always be her priority. "I knew that I always wanted to be a mom, so I was just so happy that that worked out. I feel so fulfilled that I had children and met a great guy."

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