{"id":426301,"date":"2025-12-05T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426301\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T11:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:08:08","slug":"cary-hiroyuki-tagawa-mortal-kombat-star-dead-at-75-from-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426301\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, ‘Mortal Kombat’ star, dead at 75 from stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tokoyo-born actor was best known for his role as Shang Tsung in multiple “Mortal Kombat” projects as well as on TV and video games.<\/p>\n

“Mortal Kombat<\/a>” star Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa has died from complications from a stroke. He was 75.<\/p>\n

The actor and producer died in Santa Barbara on Thursday, Dec. 4, his spokesperson Penny Vizcarra confirmed to USA TODAY.<\/p>\n

The Tokoyo-born performer was best known for his role as Shang Tsung in multiple “Mortal Kombat” projects, including the 1995 movie, as well as on TV and video games. He also played roles in films including “Pearl Harbor<\/a>,” “Planet of the Apes<\/a>,” “47 Ronin,” “Elektra” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”<\/p>\n

After moving to the United States at a young age, Tagawa attended the University of Southern California<\/a>, where he studied traditional Japanese karate.<\/p>\n

Tagawa later returned to his home country to further develop his skills at the Japan Karate Association and eventually cultivated his own form of Chun-Shin martial arts, which he taught.<\/p>\n

His proficiency with martial arts and athletic ability would come in handy as he integrated his unique skillset in Hollywood, taking on roles in the 1993 action thriller “Rising Sun,” starring Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery, as well as in the 1991 action crime “Showdown in Little Tokyo,” starring the late Brandon Lee and Dolph Lundgren.<\/p>\n

Tagawa was also part of the ensemble for Bernardo Bertolucci’s acclaimed 1987 film titled “The Last Emperor,” which went on to win nine Oscars at the 60th edition of the awards show ceremony in 1988, including best picture, best director and best cinematography.<\/p>\n

His final major role was in 2015 in the Amazon sci-fi series “The Man in the High Castle<\/a>,” starring Rufus Sewell and Alexa Davalos, where he portrayed the fictional Trade Minister of the Pacific States of America, Nobusuke Tagomi.<\/p>\n

Alongside his wife, Sally, he moved to Hawaii and raised a family on the island of Kauai. He is survived by his wife, their three children, Calen, Brynne and Cana, as well as his two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tokoyo-born actor was best known for his role as Shang Tsung in multiple “Mortal Kombat” projects as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":426302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11030,106038,9237,647,6229,648,276,185,665,435,1899,4446,6006,5416,171,561,198419,3193,6413,59,2252,4003,425,666,451,942,50,940,1539,450,457,950,1457,1451,2541,6003,646,67,132,4280,76601,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-426301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-action","9":"tag-action-u0026-adventure-films","10":"tag-adventure","11":"tag-affiliate","12":"tag-amazon-com","13":"tag-arts","14":"tag-california","15":"tag-celebrities","16":"tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","17":"tag-celebrity","18":"tag-celebrity-deaths","19":"tag-death","20":"tag-death-u0026-tragedy","21":"tag-deaths","22":"tag-entertainment","23":"tag-fighting","24":"tag-fighting-games","25":"tag-films","26":"tag-games","27":"tag-inc","28":"tag-life","29":"tag-life-now","30":"tag-local","31":"tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","32":"tag-negative","33":"tag-neutral","34":"tag-news","35":"tag-now","36":"tag-of","37":"tag-overall","38":"tag-overall-negative","39":"tag-overall-neutral","40":"tag-overall-positive","41":"tag-positive","42":"tag-southern","43":"tag-tragedy","44":"tag-u0026","45":"tag-united-states","46":"tag-unitedstates","47":"tag-university","48":"tag-university-of-southern-california","49":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426301","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=426301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}