Heroes Reborn’s Toru Uchikado Talks Superpowers and Human Rights [Exclusive Interview]

Toru Uchikado has always been interested in acting, but it wasn’t until he came to the states to study English that he found it was his passion. Now, only a few years later, he stars as Ren Shimosawa on NBC’s Heroes Reborn.

I had the chance to speak with Uchikado about his acting career and why he thinks people are drawn to the show. He even shared what superpower he would really love to have.

Uchikado majored in business while at school in Japan, and came to the states to study English during his sophomore year. Though he said he’s always been interested in acting, it was while he was studying in Missouri that he really got into it.

“I went to Missouri and took some English classes and business classes. Business classes [require] a lot of reading in English, and my English was really bad five years ago,” Uchikado explained. “I kind of gave up on taking business classes, because I didn’t want to spend too much time on reading and not being able to go out and have different experiences in the states. So instead, I decided to take acting classes because it didn’t require a lot of reading.” That turned out to be a pretty good plan for Uchikado, who later returned to the states after finishing up his business degree in Japan. When he came back, he moved to LA to pursue his passion.

Uchikado’s character on Heroes Reborn is a fun-loving, adventurous gamer who convinces Miko that she is the Katana Girl. He’s also arguably one of the most enjoyable characters to watch on the show. “I really like this character because he’s very optimistic and he’s very adventurous. He’s very confident. He’s very honest to his feelings, and he’s a very loveable character. I feel like I’m pretty close to this character,” Uchikado said, though he also sees himself as more pessimistic and less adventurous than Ren.

“I like being him,” Uchikado continued. “I guess that’s kind of like what I want to be like in the future.”

Something else Uchikado has in common with his character is a love of video games, though he played them more growing up than he does now. “I grew up playing video games and, you know, reading Japanese comics,” he said. “I played a lot of video games growing up. I spent a lot of time playing Final Fantasy.”

As for his most memorable episode of Heroes Reborn, Uchikado said it was “Game Over,” which is Episode 6. “I feel like Episode 6 was very memorable to me because [it] was really heavy to our storyline — to mine and Miko’s storyline. I think that Episode 6 was pretty much our first time to work with the other characters.” Uchikado said that he was a big fan of the original series, too, so it was especially exciting to be able to work alongside actors like Jack Coleman, who plays Noah Bennet on the show.

Uchikado also spoke to the reasons he feels people are drawn to Heroes, explaining how it’s different from so many other superhero stories out there. “This show is, of course, about those people – those cool people with super-abilities,” he said. “But it’s more of a human drama. It’s about human rights. It’s like, what is it to be different and how we can treat them right? In this society, we have the same problems. It’s not like we can just ignore them or reject them because they’re just different. I think it’s more about human rights – its sci-fi, but we can still relate to them. I think that’s what’s great about this show, and that’s what the audience can relate to.”

Heroes Reborn shows people with all sorts of special superpowers, and it makes it fun to think about what kinds of abilities we would like to have if it were possible. The superpower Uchikado said he would love to have? It has to do with the ability to make amazing food.

“I always said, like, I want to fly, but flying is kind of cliché. I usually think if it’s possible, I would like to have the power where, without any ingredients, I could just picture the food and could just instantly cook it,” he laughed. “I usually cook at home, and I don’t really go out to eat much. So if I can do that, that’s going to save a lot of time, that’s gonna save a lot of money. And you can eat whatever you want! That’s gonna be pretty awesome.”

Yeah, that would definitely be awesome!

You can catch Toru Uchikado when Heroes Reborn returns this Thursday, January 7th at 8/7c on NBC.