Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa, the Tokyo-born actor best known for his roles in the film “Mortal Kombat” and the TV series “The Man in the High Castle,” has died. He was 75 years old.
His manager, Margie Weiner, confirmed Thursday that Tagawa died surrounded by his family in Santa Barbara due to complications due to a stroke.
“Carey was a rare soul: generous, thoughtful, and endlessly committed to his craft,” she said in an email. “His loss is priceless. My heart goes out to his family, friends and everyone who loved him.”
Tagawa’s decades of film and television roles really took off in 1987 when he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor. Since then he has appeared in films such as “Pearl Harbor,” “Planet of the Apes” and “License to Kill.”
Tagawa grew up mostly in the southern United States while his Hawaiian-born father was assigned to US Army bases on the mainland. He lived in Honolulu and on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for a while.
Tagawa’s father met his mother while he was in Japan, Tagawa told Honolulu Magazine in 2004. He said his parents named him Cary Grant and his brother after Gregory Peck.
His mother, Ayako, was a stage actress in Japan, according to Medwick, a weekly newspaper in Honolulu. Tagawa said she asked him not to pursue acting because there were not many good roles for Asians.
He said he eventually began his acting career at the age of 36 after having been a celery farmer, limo driver, pizza delivery truck driver and photojournalist.
“The good news for Asian actors and Hollywood is that it’s better than it’s ever been, but the bad news is that it hasn’t changed much,” he told Medwick in 2005. “The opportunities have not increased much, but commercially there is more exposure.”
Tagawa played the Baron in Memoirs of a Geisha, a 2005 film based on the best-selling novel that tells the story of a young girl’s rise from poverty in a Japanese fishing village to life in high society.
Some critics said the film lacked originality, but Tagawa said it was unrealistic to expect a work of fiction written and directed by Americans to fully reflect Japanese style and sensibilities.
“What did they expect? It wasn’t a documentary,” Tagawa told The Associated Press in 2006. “Unless the Japanese make the movie, it’s all interpretation.”
Tagawa told the AP that he studied several martial arts acts but left because he was not interested in fighting or competing.
Instead, he developed a system he called Ninjah Sportz, which incorporated martial arts as a training and recovery tool. He has worked with professional athletes such as World Boxing Council light flyweight champion Brian Viloria and advised members of the University of Hawaii football team.
In 2008, Tagawa pleaded guilty in a Honolulu court to a simple misdemeanor charge of harassing a girlfriend. Police said at the time that she had bruises on her legs.
His lawyer said that he took full responsibility for the case from the beginning and did not make any excuses.
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