9-year-old Singaporean, Ivory Chia, beats Oscar winner for Asian acting award; Soh Rui Yong’s SEA Games hopes hit by ‘abnormal’ ECG result: Singapore live news

His portrayal of Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film became iconic, leading to later appearances in the 2013 web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy and voicing the character in the videogame Mortal Kombat 11. Tagawa also featured in films such as Rising Sun, Snow Falling on Cedars, Pearl Harbor, Planet of the Apes and Memoirs of a Geisha. On television, he was widely recognised for his roles in Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle and Netflix’s Lost in Space.

Reflecting on often being cast as a villain, Tagawa once told the Honolulu Advertiser that it was a necessary part of building his career. “Guaranteed, I wouldn’t have gotten to play good guys if I hadn’t played those bad guys,” he said.

He added, “It’s something you take pride in, being not only the best Asian bad guy you can be, but the best of all bad guys. I wasn’t willing to do anything to get in, but I think I developed the ability to take what I was given and do the best job I could.”

Born in Tokyo to an actress mother and a Japanese American father in the military, Tagawa later moved to the United States, attended high school near Los Angeles and later studied at USC. He also developed and taught his own martial arts system, Chu Shin. He is survived by his children Calen, Byrnne and Cana, and two grandchildren, River and Thea Clayton.