Mortal Kombat Creator Pays Tribute to Legendary Shang Tsung Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Legendary actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who brought a number of beloved characters to the big screen, television, and video games, sadly passed away at the age of 75 this past Thursday. Tagawa is known for a host of roles in projects like The Man in the High Castle, Memoirs of a Geisha, Star Wars: Rebels, and Blue Eye Samurai, but one of his most iconic roles is as Shang Tsung in the original Mortal Kombat movie, and now the creator of the Mortal Kombat franchise has paid tribute to the late star.

On X, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon shared a montage of Tagawa’s work in the franchise, which spans the video games and the big screen. Boon wrote, “We lost a legend today. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa @CHTOfficial played Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film and sadly passed away at age 75. We had the privilege of his portrayal on the first MK film but also as an amazing voice actor in the Mortal Kombat 11 game.

Cary was one of a kind. He combined danger, swagger and athleticism to his roles and will always be remembered as the man who first brought Shang Tsung to life on film. Rest in Peace. Your soul is eternal. #MortalKombat”

Over the years, Tagawa took part in a number of Mortal Kombat projects. After starring as Tsung in the original movie, Tagawa reprised the role in Mortal Kombat: Legacy, Mortal Kombat X: Generations, and as Boon shared, Mortal Kombat 11.

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Tagawa voiced a number of characters in the realm of video games in addition to Shang Tsung, and his work includes projects like Overwatch: Dragons, World of Warcraft: Legion, and Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, where he voiced the game’s main villain. He would even bring another iconic fighting game character to the big screen in the Tekken movie, where he played Heihachi Mishima.

Tagawa would also jump into animation with roles in Blue Eye Samurai, Star Wars: Visions, DuckTales, Star Wars: Rebels, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As for the realm of live-action television, Tagawa had memorable appearances in shows like Lost in Space, Grimm, The Librarians, Revenge, Hawaii Five-0, Heroes, and Nash Bridges, just to name a few.

Our thoughts are with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa’s family and friends.

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