‘Mortal Kombat’ star Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa dead at 75
Mortal Kombat and The Last Emperor actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa has died aged 75.
The actor, who was born in Tokyo in 1950 but moved to the US at an early age due to his Hawaiian-born father serving in the military, died in Santa Barbara, California, on December 4th.
His cause of death was complications relating to a stroke. Tagawa was surrounded by his loved ones during his final moments.
The actor’s manager, Margie Weiner, confirmed his death. She wrote: “Cary was a rare soul: generous, thoughtful, and endlessly committed to his craft.”
The statement continued, “His loss is immeasurable. My heart is with his family, friends, and all who loved him.”
Tagawa began working in the film industry in 1987 when he secured a role in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning movie The Last Emperor, and two years later, he had a prominent role in the classic James Bond film Licence to Kill.
His career continued to flourish with Rising Sun, before he landed the career-defining role of Shang Tsung in the 1995 video-game adaptation, Mortal Kombat, which he later reprised in a series of films and television series.
Another major role in his career came in 2015 when he starred in the highly successful Prime series, The Man in the High Castle. His final role was in the adult animation series, Blue Eye Samarai, which aired in 2023.
Reflecting on his childhood to The AV Club in 2015, Tagawa said, “I’ve had a slightly different experience than most Asian and Asian-American actors in Hollywood. I was born in Tokyo, left when I was 5, and was raised in the U.S. on a U.S. Army post during the 1950s and 1960s, at a time when it wasn’t real popular to be Japanese—because of the war, of course—and really had to sort of roll my own reality and make some decisions at a very young age about how I wanted to proceed in what was a… complicated experiment.”
He also said of working on The Last Emperor, “It was mind boggling. You know, to suddenly be working with one of the top-10 directors in the world, plus the film was in China, I almost blurted out, ‘How much do I have to pay?’ It was just like a dream come true. That was an amazing experience.”
Tagawa is survived by his wife, Sally Phillips, as well as his children, Calen, Byrnne and Cana, plus his two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.
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