Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, ‘Mortal Kombat’ Actor, Dead at 75

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, known for roles in Mortal Kombat and The Man in the High Castle, has died. He was 75.

The prolific actor died due to complications from a stroke in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 4, his publicist Penny Vizcarra confirmed to PEOPLE.

He is best known for his work in the film, TV and video game iterations of Mortal Kombat after making his debut as the franchise’s evil sorcerer, Shang Tsung, in Paul W.S. Anderson’s original 1995 film. 

The actor was born in Tokyo on Sept. 27, 1950. His father’s work in the American Army caused the family to move to Fort Bragg, N.C., when he was 5. He also lived in Louisiana and Texas before his family moved to California, where he began acting at Duarte High School.

“Being Japanese and living in the south during the ’50s was pretty tough,” he said in a 2010 interview, according to Deadline, which was first to report the news of his death.

Tagawa began learning martial arts in Japan. He continued with the sport during his time at the University of Southern California, before moving back to Japan and studying with the Japan Karate Association’s Master Nakayama, Deadline reported. He later returned to Los Angeles, where he taught his own martial arts style, Chu Shin, and began acting.

It was when he was teaching Chu Shin that director and screenwriter Bernardo Bertolucci discovered the actor and cast him in his breakout role in The Last Emperor, his wife, Sally, said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. At 37, in 1987, he scored his breakout role, starring as Chang in Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning film. 

He called working on Bertolucci’s production an “amazing experience,” in a 2015 interview with the AV Club. “It was mind boggling. You know, to suddenly be working with one of the top-10 directors in the world, plus the film was in China, I almost blurted out, ‘How much do I have to pay?’ It was just like a dream come true,” he recalled.

Then in 1991, the late actor starred as Heihachi Mishima in Tekken, which spawned a popular video game franchise, per Deadline. But it was his role in the 1995 Mortal Kombat that led to some of his most recognizable performances, including the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. He reprised his role twice more in the 2013 web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy and in the 2015 web series Mortal Kombat X: Generations. 

Shortly after, in 2019, he continued his portrayal of Shang Tsung and voiced the character for Mortal Kombat 11; and lent his physical likeness to the 2023 game, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught.

Throughout his decades-long career, he earned over 150 credits across film, TV and video games. In addition to Bertolucci, he worked with directors such as Ivan Reitman on Twins (1988), Philip Kaufman on Rising Sun (1993), Tim Burton on Planet of the Apes (2001), Michael Bay on Pearl Harbor (2001) and Rob Marshall on Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).

He also appeared on network shows MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Miami Vice. His final major role was on TV, when he starred as Nobusuke Tagomi in the 2015 Amazon Prime series, The Man in the High Castle.

He spent his final days living on the island of Kauai, and is survived by his wife, Sally, their three children, Calen, Byrnne and Cana, and two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton, Vizcarra shared.