Mortal Kombat star Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa dies at 75, cause of death surfaces
- Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a Tokyo-born actor best remembered for his performance in the film Mortal Kombat, has died at the age of 75
- Tagawa died on Thursday in Santa Barbara, accompanied by his family as a result of health complications, according to his manager, Margie Weiner
- Tagawa's decades-long film and television career began in 1987, when he participated in Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who played the wicked sorcerer Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, has died at the age of 75.
He was born in Tokyo to a Japanese actress and a U.S. Army soldier of Japanese descent. As a boy, he travelled to the United States and was trained in martial arts from an early age.
Source: UGC
His big debut in cinema came with Bernardo Bertolucci's epic 1987 film The Last Emperor, in which he played a Chinese capon named Chang.
Thus began a brilliant Hollywood career that featured the James Bond film License to Kill, the drama Memoirs of a Geisha, the World War II action film Pearl Harbour, and Amazon's alternate history series The Man in the High Castle.
His most memorable part, however, was Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat, a figure he played not just in cinema but also in two television shows and two computer games.
According to Deadline, his family confirmed that he died from stroke symptoms on Thursday morning in Santa Barbara, surrounded by his children. Tagawa was the son of an actress who appeared in Takarazuka, an all-female musical revue.
In an interview with the Guardian, he stated:
"My mother was an aristocrat from Tokyo who ran away to join the theatre, so acting is in my genes."
His father, meanwhile, was a Japanese American serving in the United States Army who had been in Hawaii during the Pearl Harbour strikes.
Their young son Cary-Hiroyuki spent his childhood travelling between American military forts, practising martial arts along the way.
In his adult life, he studied Japanese karate in Los Angeles before moving to Japan to train under Master Nakayama of the Japan Karate Association, where he also worked as a masseur for a time.
Source: Instagram
Tagawa was 35 when he landed his first film job, an uncredited role in John Carpenter's 1986 comedy Big Trouble in Little China, starring Kurt Russell.
His career continued with films like Timothy Dalton's final James Bond film, License to Kill, in 1989, and Sean Connery's thriller, Rising Sun, in 1993, as well as cameo appearances on shows like Miami Vice, MacGyver, and Baywatch.
Two years later, he had his breakthrough as a capon in The Last Emperor, Bertolucci's acclaimed historical drama about Puyi, China's last ruler.
Charles Granville is dead
In a related story, Legit.ng reported that the Nigerian movie industry mourned the tragic demise of Charles Granville, a veteran filmmaker.
According to a public statement published on Facebook by the deceased's friend, Umanu Elijah, Charles died after years of battling a protracted illness. Charles Granville died on Thursday, September 22, 2023, but news of his tragic passing was made public on Saturday, 23.
Source: Legit.ng
