The Mortal Kombat community is in mourning after the loss of an iconic face of one of the best antagonists in video games.
Actor/Martial-Artist Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, best remembered for his scene-stealing role as Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, has passed away at the age of 75. His children confirmed his passing occured in the early hours of December 4 at his home in Santa Barbra due to complications of a stroke.
Tagawa made his film debut in John Carpenter's 1986 cult classic Big Trouble in Little China, followed by his breakthrough role as Eunuch Chang in Richard Attenbourgh's Oscar-winning film the following year, The Last Emperor. His most famous role of course is the aging sorcerer Shang Tsung in the original live-action film adaptation of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise. A timeless performance that helped cemented the character as one of the most iconic villains in all of fighting games. Including the famous catchphrase, "Your Soul is mine!". Tagawa would later go on to reprise the role in the second season of the Mortal Kombat Legacy web-series in 2013 and would even voice him in Mortal Kombat 11 six years later in 2019, with his phyiscal likeness even included for the fans.
His work outside of Mortal Kombat include Licence to Kill, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Rising Sun, The Phantom, Snow Falling on Cedars, Johnny Tsunami, Pearl Harbor, Memoirs of a Geisha, Balls of Fury, Tekken, 47 Ronin, The Man in the High Castle and Lost in Space.
As for voice-acting related work, Tagawa himself provided the voices of Sin Tzu in Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, Brushogun in Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, Alrich Wren in Star Wars: Rebels, Hashi in Kubo & the Two Strings, Valco in Star Wars: Visions and the Swordmaker in Blue Eye Samurai.
Series co-creator and creative director at NetherRealm Studios, Ed Boon took to social media to pay tribute to Tagawa. Praising the actor's reprisal in 11 from the 1995 film.
We like to offer our condolences to his friends and family in this time.