Actor George Takei was awarded the Snow Leopard Lifetime Achievement Award at the third Asian World Film Festival on Nov. 5, held in Culver City, California, for his advocacy and political activism in support of LGBT rights, Variety reported. 

Takei, who is openly gay and Japanese-American, is best known for his role on the TV series Star Trek as Hikaru Sulu. He is the spokesperson for the Coming Out Project, associated with National Coming Out Day, a day of awareness observed annually on Oct. 11. 

In his 1994 autobiography To The Stars, Takei is quoted as saying: “Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.” 

He has since become a well-known figure on social media, with his Facebook page earning more than 10 million likes by early 2017. 

In an interview with Frontier magazine in 2005, Takei publicly revealed that he was gay, and is today married to Brad Altman, his partner of more than two decades.