Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, best known for bringing Mortal Kombat villain Shang Tsung to life, passed away Thursday at 75 in Santa Barbara, California.
His family told Deadline he died from complications related to a stroke he had previously suffered.
Tagawa’s legendary career included standout roles not only in Mortal Kombat, but also in The Last Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Man in the High Castle.
Beyond the Mortal Kombat franchise, Tagawa consistently showcased his martial arts talent in films like License to Kill, Rising Sun, Snow Falling on Cedars, Pearl Harbor, Planet of the Apes, Elektra, Memoirs of a Geisha, and 47 Ronin.
“I was born in Tokyo and began training in Kendo when I was in junior high school,” Tagawa shared in a 2010 interview. “Then when I was five we moved to Fort Bragg, NC; and that’s when I got my first real lesson in how to use the martial arts. Being Japanese and living in the south during the ’50s was pretty tough.”
His last major role came in 2015, when he starred as Nobusuke Tagomi in Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle. Tagawa said he deeply connected with the character, explaining, “I identified so much with this character and so much of my life experience — having been born in Tokyo and then coming to America just after the war… So to be good, bad and ugly — being different — [is the same] as with my character Tagomi, who seems to be the only one running around talking about peace.”
Tagawa lived in Kauai, Hawaii, with his wife Sally and their children, Calen, Brynne, and Cana.
