{"id":426099,"date":"2025-12-05T08:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T08:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426099\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T08:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T08:58:13","slug":"cary-hiroyuki-tagawa-dead-mortal-kombat-star-martial-artist-was-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426099\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa dead: \u2018Mortal Kombat’ star, martial artist was 75"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the Japanese American actor whose powerful glare and graceful menace made him a fixture of action films for more than four decades, has died at 75.<\/p>\n

Tagawa, known for his roles in the \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d films, \u201cLicense to Kill\u201d and \u201cThe Man in the High Castle,\u201d died Thursday of complications from a stroke, a representative confirmed to The Times. He died in Santa Barbara while surrounded by family members.<\/p>\n

Tagawa was born in Japan and raised partly on U.S. military bases before coming to Los Angeles, where he taught his own style of martial arts called Chu Shin. He was discovered by Bernardo Bertolucci and cast in \u201cThe Last Emperor,\u201d which was released in 1987. <\/p>\n

His role in the Oscar-winning epic quickly propelled him to fame, and he went on to star in more than 30 films, many of which showcased his combat skills.<\/p>\n

Tagawa became one of Hollywood\u2019s most reliable character actors, typically cast as the elegant and cunning villain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the privilege of representing Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa for many years as his long time manager, but our relationship grew into something far deeper \u2014 he became like family,\u201d said manager Margie Weiner in a statement. \u201cCary was a rare soul: generous, thoughtful, and endlessly committed to his craft. His loss is immeasurable. My heart is with his family, friends, and all who loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n

His most defining role came in the 1995 film \u201cMortal Kombat,\u201d<\/a> in which he played the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung \u2014 a performance that became a cult classic made especially memorable by his enduring line, \u201cYour soul is mine.\u201d He reprised the character in the 2013 television series \u201cMortal Kombat: Legacy\u201d and voiced Tsung in the video game Mortal Kombat 11, introducing his work to a new generation of fans.<\/p>\n

He later stared as trade minister Nobusuke Tagomi in Amazon\u2019s \u201cThe Man in the High Castle,\u201d<\/a> a performance that earned him some of the strongest critical notice of his career. He was a lead character for three seasons of the show, which came out in 2015. <\/p>\n

Away from the screen, Tagawa was known as a warm, charismatic mentor who encouraged younger actors and martial artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cCary was a great talent and a wonderful man,\u201d said his publicist, Penny Vizcarra, chief executive of PV Public Relations. \u201cOur entire team loved working with him and appreciated how he treated everyone with love and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tagawa is survived by his children, Calen, Byrnne and Cana, and his grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the Japanese American actor whose powerful glare and graceful menace made him a fixture of action…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":426100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[198359,1582,198363,276,2563,19919,13945,71316,198362,2961,224,2444,5337,2089,198364,198361,70772,18281,198358,198360],"class_list":{"0":"post-426099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-action-film","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-calen","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-career","13":"tag-character","14":"tag-chief-executive","15":"tag-decade","16":"tag-high-castle","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-times","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-man","22":"tag-martial-art","23":"tag-martial-artist-cary-hiroyuki-tagawa","24":"tag-mortal-kombat","25":"tag-performance","26":"tag-tagawa","27":"tag-villain-role"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115666138282025632","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}