Our guest today is Shyaporn Theerakulstit, a Thai-American born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and based in New York City. He is a man of many labels: actor, writer, director, new media creator, martial artist, cosplayer and fake science lecturer. We tried to tell him we think he is cool, but he prefers to call himself “relentlessly interesting.”
We talk about his various acting roles, especially his work in Star Trek productions, and how casting in Hollywood has changed (or hasn’t) over the years. We also discuss his early success on YouTube with his character videos, such as his “fake scientist” persona. And we discover that we all share a love of martial arts and think everyone should get out and “touch grass” or rather, “touch gloves.”
Guest Bio:
Shyaporn Theerakulstit is a Thai-American actor, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, based in New York City. He is also a writer, director, new media creator, martial artist, cosplayer and fake science lecturer. He has given talks on Godzilla biology and the technology of Star Trek vs Star Wars at TEDx, Nerd Nite, C2E2 and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He is the host of Atlas Obscura’s “REAL/fake Science” lecture series. His Youtube channel has over 5 million video views and has been featured on Huffington Post and Comedy Central. He is a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and a degree holder in traditional Shaolin kung fu with Alan Lee’s Chinese Kung Fu Wu Su Association, one of the oldest martial arts schools in New York City.
Show Notes:
Shyaporn’s Acting Work:
- Star Trek New Voyages fan series (appearing as Sulu):
- Ep 9 Mind Sifter
- Ep 10 The Holiest Thing
- Ep 11 Torment of Destiny (incomplete due to licensing issues)
- Appeared as Kirk in Khan!! The Musical
- Upcoming role in the film Song Sung Blue
Comedy Performances/Events:
- Peer Review (PowerPoint karaoke show) – next show Oct. 16, 2025
- Storyoke (storytelling & karaoke)
- Godzilla: History, Biology and Behavior of Hyper-Evolved Theropod Kaiju (PowerPoint comedy lecture)
Shyaporn’s YouTube channel:
Other references:
- Nerd Nite
- Shyaporn appears on the Star Trek Trek Time podcast
- Prelude to Axanar Star Trek fan film
- Allen Lee’s Wu Su Kung Fu School
- Dancing as an Intervention Tool for People with Dementia
Credits:
- Edited by Tucker Bennett and mastered by Cedric Wilson.
- Theme music by The Necklace, a project by Taylor Shields and Morgan Võ.
Sound Credits:
- hologram.wav by Sergenious — https://freesound.org/s/55833/ — License: Attribution 4.0
- intro_spring.wav by levelclearer — https://freesound.org/s/233351/ — License: Attribution 4.0
- up5.wav by bumpelsnake — https://freesound.org/s/456576/ — License: Attribution 4.0
- Kung Fu Scream by vero.marengere — https://freesound.org/s/482227/ — License: Creative Commons 0
- Katana sword.wav by crawfordjohnb@bellsouth.net — https://freesound.org/s/403235/ — License: Creative Commons 0
- Tap Dancer FF002.aif by martinimeniscus — https://freesound.org/s/199481/ — License: Creative Commons 0
- female-voice-xiao-guqin-concert.wav by xserra — https://freesound.org/s/162024/ — License: Attribution 4.0
