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“Are you faster than a speeding bullet? Try it Superman.”
I literally just found out five minutes ago that action cinema has lost one of its legit bad asses of action cinema. It is with heavy heart that I announce that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa has sadly passed away at the age of 75 due to complications from a stroke. His family confirmed the news and with it, the hallowed halls of action cinema dim darker today. Tagawa has been a mainstay of the genre as well as others for decades and has starred in some of the most epic and classic action films ever including Showdown in Little Tokyo, Big Trouble in Little China, Nemesis, The Perfect Weapon, White Tiger and the original 1994 Mortal Kombat which he was probably best known for. The roles are endless and his imprint on cinema is unmatched.
Tagawa was born to be bad, and he excelled at it ever since he made his big screen debut in John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China. He also featured heavily in countless TV shows which included Renegade, Raven, Walker: Texas Ranger, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Miami Vice, Moonlighting, Babylon 5, Nash Bridges, Stargate SG-1, Heroes, Revenge, Grimm, Star Wars: Rebels, Lost in Space, Star Wars: Visions, and Blue Eye Samurai.
Tagawa was a mainstay in Hollywood, and he did feature in other genres, but it will always be action that he will be remembered for, and he is without a doubt a member of Action Cinema Hall of Fame. His portrayal of the villainous Shang Tsung to life in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Mortal Kombat was a perfect chef’s kiss when one talks about the best of the best in bad guys and he stole the show in each and every frame he was in. He was a lethal threat that had all the charisma, ruthlessness and swagger that any villain could ever want but then he could pull a completer 180 and deliver in a comedy or drama and play a character that was a complete opposite of what made him truly famous.
We here at Action-Flix.com send our thoughts and condolences to Tagawa’s family and friends. He will be missed…
