Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, star of Mortal Kombat and The Last Emperor, dies at 75

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the actor whose commanding presence lit up screens from The Last Emperor to Memoirs of a Geisha and The Man in the High Castle, passed away on Thursday in Santa Barbara. He was 75.

Tagawa died from complications following a stroke early Thursday morning, surrounded by his children, his family confirmed to Deadline.

For many, Tagawa was synonymous with the menacing sorcerer Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat. He first brought the character to life in New Line’s 1995 film adaptation, reprised it in Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1997), and returned in guest spots on the 2013 Mortal Kombat: Legacy series and Mortal Kombat X: Generations in 2015. He also lent his voice to Mortal Kombat 11 (2019) and his likeness to Mortal Kombat: Onslaught (2023).

The original Mortal Kombat film earned over $100 million on a $20 million budget, a success Tagawa attributed to the timing of the video game’s popularity. “It was the perfect timing in that Mortal Kombat as a video game, at the time we did the film, was on number four or five and that the impact of the film certainly had to do with the build of the video games,” he said, also crediting director Paul W.S. Anderson for the film’s impact, as quoted by Deadline.