Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
田川 洋行
Tagawa in 2011
Born	(1950-09-27) September 27, 1950 Higashi-Azabu, Tokyo, Japan
Other names	Cary Tagawa Panteleymon Tagawa
Citizenship	United States Russia (since 2016)
Education	University of Southern California
Occupation(s)	Actor, producer
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Sally Phillips ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	3

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Japanese: 田川 洋行, romanized: Tagawa Hiroyuki; born September 27, 1950) is a Japanese-American actor and producer.

Often cast as villains, he is known for his film roles in The Last Emperor (1987), the James Bond film Licence to Kill (1989), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), American Me (1992), Rising Sun (1993), Mortal Kombat (1995), The Phantom (1996), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001), Planet of the Apes (also 2001), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Tekken (2009), 47 Ronin (2013), Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge (2014), and Kubo and the Two Strings (2017). He starred as Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi on the Amazon Prime television series The Man in the High Castle (2015–2018) and Hiroki Watanabe on the Netflix series Lost in Space (2018–2021).

Tagawa is known for his role as the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in various works of the Mortal Kombat franchise: he first played the character in the 1995 film adaptation, and reprised it in 2013 for the television series Mortal Kombat: Legacy and in 2019 for the video game Mortal Kombat 11.

Early life

Tagawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, the son of Japanese Takarazuka actress Mariko Hata and a Japanese-American father who served in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Polk, Louisiana; and Fort Hood, Texas. His mother tongues are English and Japanese but he also speaks some Korean and Spanish.

As an army brat, Tagawa was raised in various cities. His family finally settled in Southern California, where he began acting in high school while attending Duarte High School. He attended the University of Southern California and was an exchange student in Japan. He studied kendo and Shotokan karate under Masatoshi Nakayama at the Japan Karate Association.

Career

His breakthrough as an actor came when he was cast as the Eunuch Chang in The Last Emperor (1987). In 1989, he played an undercover agent of the Hong Kong Narcotics Board in the James Bond film Licence to Kill. In 1991, he starred alongside Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee in the action film Showdown in Little Tokyo, where he played the role of yakuza boss Yoshida. He also starred alongside James Hong, Mako Iwamatsu and Jeff Speakman in the same year in the film The Perfect Weapon, where he played Kai, an assistant to the Korean mafia families.

In 1993, he starred as the wayward scion of a Japanese industrialist in Rising Sun, where Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, and Harvey Keitel played detectives holding various viewpoints about the murder of a young woman that Tagawa's character was being framed for.

He appeared in the film Mortal Kombat (1995) as the sorcerer Shang Tsung; he reprised the role in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy in 2013, and in the video game Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019. He also appeared as the deadly pirate leader Kabai Sengh in The Phantom (1996). Tagawa is among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in the documentary The Slanted Screen (2006), directed by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian and Asian-American men in Hollywood.

Tagawa played Heihachi Mishima in Tekken, the film adaptation of the video game franchise. In 2006, he provided the voice of Brushogun in Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo. He was in the film Johnny Tsunami (1999) and its sequel Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007). In between those two films, Tagawa played Attar's mentor Krull in Tim Burton's version of Planet of the Apes (2001).

He played Satoshi Takeda in Revenge, a powerful CEO in Japan and Emily Thorne's former mentor in her quest for revenge. In season 2, Tagawa took over the role from Hiroyuki Sanada, who was unable to continue due to scheduling conflicts.

Tagawa also plays the role of Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi in the 2013 film 47 Ronin.

In 2015, Tagawa was cast as one of the lead characters, Nobusuke Tagomi, the Trade Minister of the Pacific States of America in Amazon's The Man in the High Castle based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name. Also in November 2015, both he and Taimak (The Last Dragon) were honorees for the Fists of Legends Legacy Award at the Urban Action Showcase & Expo.

In 2013, Tagawa started working with Russian film actors Pyotr Mamonov and Ivan Okhlobystin.

Personal life

In 2015, Tagawa converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, and in 2016, he acquired Russian citizenship.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Big Trouble in Little China	Wing Kong Swordsman	Uncredited
	Armed Response	Toshi
1987	The Last Emperor	Chang
1988	Bulletproof	Thug In Flashback	Uncredited
	Spellbinder	Lieutenant Lee
	Twins	Oriental Man
1989	The Last Warrior	Imperial Marine
	Licence to Kill	Kwang
1991	Kickboxer 2	Sanga
	Showdown in Little Tokyo	Funekei Yoshida
	The Perfect Weapon	Kai
1992	Nemesis	Angie-Liv
	American Me	'El Japo'
1993	Rising Sun	Eddie Sakamura
1994	Natural Causes	Major Somchal
	Picture Bride	Kanzuki
1995	The Dangerous	Kon
	Mortal Kombat	Shang Tsung
	Soldier Boyz	Vinh Moc
1996	White Tiger	Victor Chow
	The Phantom	The Great Kabai Sengh
	Danger Zone	Monsieur Chang
1997	Top of the World	Captain Hefter
	Mortal Kombat Annihilation	Shang Tsung	Archive footage
1998	Vampires	David Deyo
	Provocateur	Captain Jong
	American Dragons	Matsuyama
1999	Bridge of Dragons	General Ruechang
	Fixations	Alex
	Snow Falling on Cedars	Zenhichi Miyamoto
2000	The Art of War	David Chan
2001	Pearl Harbor	Commander Minoru Genda
	Planet of the Apes	Krull
2005	Elektra	Master Roshi
	Memoirs of a Geisha	The Baron
2006	The Slanted Screen	Himself	Documentary film
	Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo	Brushogun	Voice
2007	Balls of Fury	Mysterious Asian Man
	Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter	Alibek
2008	Lost Warrior: Left Behind	Detective Yoshide	Video
	Bodyguard: A New Beginning	Kai
2009	By the Will of Chingis Khan	Bodyguard
	Hachi: A Dog's Tale	Ken
	Tekken	Heihachi Mishima
	The Tomb	Len Burris
2012	Black Cobra	Goro Tanaka	Video
2013	47 Ronin	Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
2014	Hype Nation 3D	Sammy Kata
	Priest-San	Father Nikolai 'Takuro' Nakamura
	Ninja Apocalypse	Fumitaka
	Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge	Heihachi Mishima
	Skin Trade	Senator Khat
2015	Junction	Narrator	Voice
	The Man with the Iron Fists 2	The Mayor
	Little Boy	Hashimoto
2016	Showdown in Manila	Aldric Cole
	Beyond the Game	Detective Yoshida
	Kubo and the Two Strings	Hashi	Voice
2017	The Whole World at Our Feet	Khazar
2023	Duel of Legends	Sting
2024	Reagan	Yasuhiro Nakasone

Short films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	True Love & Mimosa Tea	Andreas Kanaka
	The Sand Island Drive-In Anthem	Uncle C
2009	The Legend of Chang Apana	Chang Apana
2010	Absolute.ness	Chief Dax
	Overturned	Judge
2015	Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon	Genghis Khan
2016	Overwatch: Dragons	Narrator / Sojiro Shimada	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	MacGyver	Asian Buyer	Episode: "Dalton, Jack of Spies"
	The Colbys	Mr. Sung	Episode: "Devil's Advocate"
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Mandarin Bailiff	Episode: "Encounter at Farpoint"
1987–1989	Miami Vice	Kenji Fujitsu, Tegoro	2 episodes
1988	Hotel	Inspector Chin	Episode: "Double Take"
1989	L.A. Takedown	Hugh Denny	Television film
	Superboy	Detective Jed Slade	Episode: "Terror from the Blue"
	Knots Landing	Mr. Toyo	Episode: "Giganticus II: The Revenge"
	Moonlighting	Artist	Episode: "Perfetc"
	A Peaceable Kingdom	Coach	Episode: "Chimp"
	Alien Nation	Yamato	Episode: "The First Cigar"
	Mission: Impossible	Vang Kai	Episode: "Countdown"
1990	Jake and the Fatman	Raymond Char	Episode: "Chinatown, My Chinatown"
	Hardball		Episode: "Wedding Bell Blues"
	The Bakery	Kim Lee	Television film
	Vestige of Honor	Thai Major
1991	Baywatch	Mason Sato	Episode: "War of Nerves"
	Not of This World	Shikido	Television film
	Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis	Shoji Hashimoto
1992	Raven	Osato	2 episodes
1993	Renegade	Hirotaka	Episode: "Samurai"
1993–1994	Space Rangers	Zylyn	6 episodes
1994	Day of Reckoning	Prakit	Television film
1995	Babylon 5	Morishi	Episode: "Convictions"
	Thunder in Paradise 3	Mason Lee	Television film
1996	Cybill	Kenji	Episode: "Cybill and Maryann Go to Japan"
	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Tai Wei Tse	Episode: "Sweet & Sour Victory"
1996–1997	Nash Bridges	Lieutenant A.J. Shimamura	12 episodes
1997	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	King Young-Jin	Episode: "The Little Mermaid"
	Raven: Return of the Black Dragon	Osato	Television film
	Stargate SG-1	Turghan	Episode: "Emancipation"
1998	Poltergeist: The Legacy	Sam Tanaka	Episode: "The Internment"
	Vengeance Unlimited	Aung Myint	Episode: "Ambition"
1999	Seven Days	Peter	Episode: "Walter"
	Johnny Tsunami	Johnny Tsunami	Television film
	NetForce	Leong Cheng
2000	Walker, Texas Ranger	Master Ko	Episode: "Black Dragons"
2003	Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding	Mason Sato	Television film
2004	Hawaii	Captain Terry Harada
2005	Faith of My Fathers	Cat	Television film
2007	Heroes	The Swordsmith	2 episodes
	Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board	Johnny Tsunami	Television film
2008	Ghost Voyage	The Steward
2009	Beyond the Break	Xander	2 episodes
2010	Hawaii Five-0	Hiro Noshimori	2 episodes
2012–2013	Revenge	Satoshi Takeda	6 episodes
2014	Teen Wolf	Katashi / Silverfinger	Episode: "Silverfinger"
	The Librarians	Mr. Drake	Episode: "And the Apple of Discord"
2015–2018	The Man in the High Castle	Nobusuke Tagomi	Main cast
2016	Grimm	Takeshi Himura	Episode: "Inugami"
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Sumo Kuma	Voice, 2 episodes
2017	Star Wars Rebels	Alrich Wren	Voice, 2 episodes
2018	Lost in Space	Hiroki Watanabe	5 episodes
2020	DuckTales	Akita	Voice, episode: "Astro B.O.Y.D.!"
2021	Star Wars: Visions	Valco	Voice, short film: The Village Bride: English language dub
2021	NCIS: Los Angeles	Craig Tanaka	Episode: "Fukushu"
2023	Blue Eye Samurai	Master Eiji

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Mortal Kombat: Legacy	Shang Tsung	2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Soldier Boyz	Vinh Moc
2003	Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu	Sin Tzu
2016	World of Warcraft: Legion	Voice Over Cast
2019–2020	Mortal Kombat 11	Shang Tsung	Voice and physical likeness; appears as downloadable content
2023	Mortal Kombat: Onslaught		physical likeness

Bibliography

• Paul, Louis (2008). "Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa". Tales From the Cult Film Trenches; Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 254–261. ISBN 978-0-7864-2994-3.

External links

• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa at IMDb