The JapaneseAmerican actor's credits also included &34;The Last Emperor,&34; &34;Licence to Kill,&34; and &34;Rising Sun.&34; CaryHiroyuki Tagawa, Mortal Kombat and Man in the High Castle star, dies at 75 The JapaneseAmerican actor's credits also included &34;The Last Emperor,&34; &34;Licence to Kill,&34; and &34;Rising Sun.&34; By Ryan Coleman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RyanColemanauthorphoto0081ce8f0254478080f35972c433877b.jpg) Ryan Coleman Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

The Japanese-American actor's credits also included "The Last Emperor," "Licence to Kill," and "Rising Sun."

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mortal Kombat and Man in the High Castle star, dies at 75

The Japanese-American actor's credits also included "The Last Emperor," "Licence to Kill," and "Rising Sun."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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and Oliver Gettell

Oliver Gettell

Oliver Gettell is a senior news editor at **. He has been at EW since 2015 and previously worked at the Los Angeles Times.

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December 4, 2025 10:00 p.m. ET

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Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa on 'The Man in the High Castle'. Credit:

Liane Hentscher / Amazon / courtesy Everett Collection

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the Japanese-American actor known for his work in such films and TV series as *Mortal Kombat*, *The Last Emperor*, and *The Man in the High Castle*, died Thursday in Santa Barbara, Calif., from complications of a stroke. He was 75.

Tagawa's publicist, Penny Vizcarra, confirmed the news to **.

Sally Phillips, his former wife of 30 years and mother to their two children, shared in a statement that Tagawa "came to L.A. and began teaching his own style of martial arts called Chu Shin. He was discovered by [Bernardo] Bertolucci and cast him in his first film, *The Last Emperor*. From there, he became a high-profile Asian actor in more than 30 films and in the series *The Man in the High Castle*."

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in 'Mortal Kombat'.

New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection

Born in Tokyo on Sept. 27, 1950 to the Japanese actress Mariko Hata, Tagawa's father's work in the American Army forced the family to ramble across the country throughout his childhood. He was raised in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Texas before settling down in Southern California, where he caught the acting bug at Duarte High School.

Growing up in the long shadow of the WWII-era Japanese internment policy had an impact on Tagawa's upbringing that he spoke about throughout his lifetime. He noted in 2001, "We know that Japanese weren't received very well after the war. So this was ten years after the war that I grew up in southern America."

Tagawa continued, "I know how to deal with the odds. I'm the kind of guy when you say one in a million, I say I'll take it. You tell me there's none in a million, I say I'll make one and then I'll take that one. So nothing ever stops me."

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Tagawa's big break came in 1987, and endures as one of the finest films he ever made. Italian master director Bernardo Bertolucci cast him as the eunuch Chang in *The Last Emperor*, his sweeping biopic of Puyi, China's final monarch.

"It was mind boggling. You know, to suddenly be working with one of the top-10 directors in the world," Tagawa reflected in 2015. 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. That was an amazing experience."

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From there it was off to the races. Tagawa would go on to play the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in the 1995 movie *Mortal Kombat* (based on the popular video game series) and Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi in the Prime Video TV series *The Man in the High Castle* (based on the Philip K. Dick novel).

His other screen credits included movies like *Licence to Kill*, *Pearl Harbor*, *Rising Sun*, *Memoirs of a Geisha*, and *Planet of the Apes*, and TV shows like *Nash Bridges*, *Heroes*, and *Revenge*.

Tagawa was living on the Hawaiian island of Kauai at the time of his death. He is survived by his three children, Calen, Byrnne and Cana, and his two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.**

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Published: December 05, 2025 at 05:38AM on Source: RED MAG

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