Mortal Kombat actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa dies at 75 - Here’s what caused the death of Tokyo-born martial arts star

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the acclaimed and distinctive actor known for standout roles in Mortal Kombat, The Last Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha and The Man in the High Castle, passed away Thursday in Santa Barbara at age 75. His family told Deadline that Tagawa died early in the morning from complications following a stroke, with his children by his side. According to Deadline, Tagawa is survived by three children, Calen, Brynne and Cana; and his two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.

Tagawa became widely recognized for his iconic portrayal of the villainous sorcerer Shang Tsung across multiple Mortal Kombat adaptations. He first embodied the role in New Line’s 1995 film and returned for Mortal Kombat Annihilation in 1997. He later reprised the character in the 2013 series Mortal Kombat: Legacy and a 2015 episode of Mortal Kombat X: Generations. Tagawa also voiced Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 11 and provided his likeness for the 2023 game Mortal Kombat: Onslaught.



"Mortal Combat, to me, is as classic a bad guy as I can create," Tagawa said in a 2001 interview as quoted by JoBlo. "And when I did that, my choice was to go so far over the top for a few reasons. One is, I didn’t think I’d want to play the evil sorcerer again, and I wanted to give him a power and a strength that people would remember.

"One other thing was the dialogue. As actors, we are reading scripts, and I wasn’t familiar with the game, and when I saw the game, it made more sense. But even more so when I went to act it, I thought, "Oh, I can do this. I’ll give him the meanest, nastiest lines." And sure enough, it was fun. I never realized I was making him that mean. Sort of shocked me a bit, but certainly that was one of my greatest experiences in acting."

Although Shang Tsung is his most recognizable role, it reflects only a small part of Tagawa’s four-decade career. He appeared in an extensive range of films, including Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Emperor, Licence to Kill, Pearl Harbor, Memoirs of a Geisha, 47 Ronin and Kubo and the Two Strings. On television, he guest-starred in series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, Stargate SG-1, Heroes and Grimm. His most notable TV role was Trade Minister Tagomi in The Man in the High Castle, set in an alternate post-World War II reality.

Tagawa also took on a major role in another video-game adaptation, portraying ruthless corporate leader Heihachi Mishima in Tekken. Unlike Mortal Kombat, the 1991 film failed to make a strong impact at the box office. He further expanded his footprint in gaming by lending his voice to several titles, including Soldier Boyz, Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu and World of Warcraft: Legion.

"I was born in Tokyo and began training in Kendo when I was in junior high school," recalled Tagawa in a 2010 interview as quoted by Deadline. "Then when I was five we moved to Fort Brag, NC; and that’s when I got my first real lesson in how to use the martial arts. Being Japanese and living in the south during the ’50s was pretty tough."

At 21, Tagawa began studying traditional Japanese karate at the University of Southern California before returning to Japan to train under Master Nakayama at the Japan Karate Association. According to Deadline, he later developed his own discipline, Chun-Shin, which he described as 'a study of energy... entirely free of physical combat'.