LOS ANGELES — Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor Masi Oka, star of NBC’s hit ensemble drama series “Heroes” will serve as global ambassador for One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization launched in 2005 with a mission of providing a means for learning, self-expression and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education. In his role as OLPC ambassador, Oka will appear in public service announcements – both online and on television – to promote the importance of empowering children with learning tools and Internet connectivity.

Masi’s lifelong interest in technology and learning was established long before he accepted the lead role as “Heroes’” “Hiro Nakamura” and the OLPC “ambassadorship.” After moving to the U.S. from Japan at the age of 6, Masi went on to graduate from Brown University with degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science and a Theatre Arts minor. Oka pursued an acting career while taking his first job at George Lucas’ Oscar-winning special effects house Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Today, despite his successful career as an actor, he continues to provide ILM with technology for groundbreaking effects for more than 30 films.

OLPC was founded by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently affordable to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression.

“Being a part of a global effort that is enabling children to learn, grow and succeed in life is both tremendously gratifying and important to me,” said Masi Oka. “I’m very excited about this opportunity to represent One Laptop per Child and bring my love of technology and education to the global community. I believe that it is incredibly important to enable access to learning for all children so that every child has the opportunity to create a better life for themselves, their family and their society.”

About One Laptop per Child

One Laptop per Child (OLPC at http://www.laptop.org) is a non-profit organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and others from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. These XO laptops will be rugged, open source, and so energy efficient that they can be powered by a child manually. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal is $100.

The XO laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. Starting November 12 and for two weeks only, individuals in the U.S. and Canada will be able to participate in the Give 1 Get 1 program and for US$399 get a laptop while giving one simultaneously to a child in a developing nation. For more information on the Give 1 Get 1 program, go to http://www.laptopgiving.org.