\u00a9<\/b>Courtesy of New Line Cinema, “Mortal Kombat”<\/p>\n
The actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who was born in Japan and trained in the US, one of the most successful Asian actors that appeared in numerous films from the 1990s and 2000s, has passed away.<\/p>\n
Tagawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, and raised by his Japanese Takarazuka actress mother and Japanese-American father who served in the United States Army and served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Hood, Texas. His mother tongues were English and Japanese, but he also spoke some Russian, Korean and Spanish. Tagawa grew up in various cities as an army brat. After his family moved to Southern California, he started acting while attending Duarte High School.<\/p>\n
In his first movie, he played an uncredited swordsman in John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China<\/strong>“, but he gained recognition in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1987 Oscar-winning film “The Last Emperor<\/strong>” where he played Chang, the emperor’s driver.<\/p>\n<\/ins>\n But my personal favorite was Eddie Sakamura in the adaptation of Michael Crichton\u2019s novel \u201cRising Sun<\/strong>,\u201d then he had a string of films followed, as a Yakuza boss in \u201cShowdown in Little Tokyo<\/strong>,\u201d as a Hong Kong agent in the Bond film \u201cLicence to Kill<\/strong>,\u201d the attack planning Minoru Genda in \u201cPearl Harbor<\/strong>,\u201d as the ape General Krull in Tim Burton\u2019s \u201cPlanet of the Apes<\/strong>,\u201d and as the pirate Kabai Sengh in \u201cThe Phantom<\/strong>\u201d. Tagawa is arguably best know as the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in Paul W.S. Anderson\u2019s 1995 film adaptation of the \u201cMortal Kombat<\/strong>\u201d game franchise. He reprised the role in the 1997 sequel and various web episodes and games.<\/p>\n His TV resume was also extensive. He was part of the main cast of Amazon\u2019s \u201cThe Man in the High Castle<\/strong>\u201d in the role of trade minister Nobusuke Tagomi, and had multi-episode arcs on \u201cMiami Vice<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cNash Bridges<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cSpace Rangers<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cRevenge<\/strong>\u201d and Netflix\u2019s \u201cLost in Space<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n Tagawa is survived by three children, Calen, Brynne and Cana; and his two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.<\/p>\n<\/ins>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a9Courtesy of New Line Cinema, “Mortal Kombat” The actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who was born in Japan and trained in the US, one of the most successful Asian actors that appeared in numerous films from the 1990s and 2000s, has passed away. Tagawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, and raised by his Japanese Takarazuka actress mother…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[29067,18797,7115,704,29065,29068,1113,29066,13442],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n