Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, 'Mortal Kombat' actor, dies aged 75
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the prolific and instantly recognizable actor best known for his roles in the Mortal Kombat films, The Last Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha and The Man in the High Castle, died Thursday in Santa Barbara, News.Az reports, citing Deadline.
He was 75.
Tagawa died due to complications from a stroke early this morning surrounded by his children, his family has confirmed the news.
Tagawa is best known to a broad audience as the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in the film, TV and video game iterations of the Mortal Kombat franchise. He began playing the character in New Line’s 1995 film adaptation and was also featured in the 1997 follow-up Mortal Kombat Annihilation. He reprised the role with guest appearances in the 2013 TV series Mortal Kombat: Legacy and one episode of Mortal Kombat X: Generations in 2015. In 2019, he voiced the character in the video game Mortal Kombat 11and lent his physical likeness to the 2023 role-playing video game Mortal Kombat: Onslaught.
The first film grossed more than $100 million on a budget of around $20M.
“It was the perfect timing in that Mortal Kombat as a video game, at the time we did the film, was on number four or five and that the impact of the film certainly had to do with the build of the video games,” Tagawa said later.
He also credited director Paul W.S. Anderson.
“He was the first one in martial arts history to apply such music — really upbeat, driving metal music. You couldn’t sit still when you heard the music. And it matched the action so well.”
Tagawa lived on the island of Kauai where he and his wife Sally raised their two children.
He is survived by three children, Calen, Brynne and Cana; and his two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.
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