Prolific Actor Known for ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘The Man in the High Castle’ Dies: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Was 75

December 5, 2025, 11:14am

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the prolific actor best known for his roles in the Mortal Kombat franchise and The Man in the High Castle, has died. He was 75.

The Tokyo-born actor died Thursday morning in Santa Barbara due to complications from a stroke, his family told Deadline, and was surrounded by his children when he passed away.

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Tagawa was born in Tokyo but grew up in the U.S. South while his father served in the army, also living in Hawaii for a time as a child. After focusing on traditional Japanese karate at the University of Southern California, the actor moved back to Japan to study with the Japan Karate Association before getting his big break in Hollywood.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa at the ‘Hand Of God’ panel discussion at the Amazon Studios portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour on August 3, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.

Pursuing acting as an adult, Tagawa finally broke through in 1987 with his role as Chang, the emperor’s driver, in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning film The Last Emperor. He would go on to appear in License to Kill (1989), Pearl Harbor (2001), and Planet of the Apes (2001) before being cast as the Baron in 2005’s Oscar-winning film Memoirs of a Geisha.

His other film credits include Rising Sun (1993), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), Elektra (2005), 47 Ronin (2013), utilizing his proficiency in martial arts for many of his roles.

Tagawa is perhaps best known for his role as Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat franchise, playing the evil sorcerer in film, television and video game adaptations over the years.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa attends the New York Series premiere of “The Man In The High Castle” at Alice Tully Hall on November 2, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/WireImage)

Tagawa first appeared as Shang Tsung in the 1995 film adaptation before going on to reprise his role in the 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, as well as in the 2013 TV series Mortal Kombat: Legacy and the 2015 series Mortal Kombat X: Generations. In 2019, he voiced his character in the video game Mortal Kombat 11, and his physical likeness was used in the 2023 RPG Mortal Kombat: Onslaught.

Tagawa also worked on another video game film adaptation, appearing as Heihachi Mishima in 1991’s Tekken. He also voiced characters in the video games Soldier Boyz, Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu and World of Warcraft: Legion.