Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the Tokyo-born actor celebrated for his unforgettable turn as the villainous sorcerer Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat and for his role in The Man in the High Castle, has died at 75.
Tagawa passed away in Santa Barbara from complications following a stroke, his manager Margie Weiner confirmed Thursday.
“He died surrounded by his family, with love,” Weiner said.
Tagawa’s acting career took off after his appearance in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning 1987 film The Last Emperor. He went on to build a long résumé of film roles, including parts in License to Kill, Pearl Harbor, Planet of the Apes, and Memoirs of a Geisha—in which he played the Baron in the 2005 adaptation of the bestselling novel.
Born in Tokyo, Tagawa spent much of his childhood in the American South while his Hawaii-born father served at Army bases on the mainland. He later lived in Honolulu and on Kauai.
Although some critics questioned the authenticity of Memoirs of a Geisha, Tagawa said it was unreasonable to expect an American-made production to fully capture Japanese cultural nuance. “What did they expect? It wasn’t a documentary,” he told the Associated Press in 2006. “Unless the Japanese did the movie, it’s all interpretation.”
Trained in several martial arts, Tagawa eventually stepped away from competitive fighting and developed his own system, Ninjah Sportz, blending martial arts with training and healing. He worked with professional athletes, including WBC light flyweight champion Brian Viloria, and advised players on the University of Hawaii football team.
In 2008, Tagawa pleaded guilty to a petty misdemeanor harassment charge involving a girlfriend in Honolulu. His attorney said Tagawa accepted responsibility from the outset.
Tagawa is remembered for a career that spanned decades and for roles that left an enduring imprint on action and genre cinema.
