Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who performed Shang Tsung within the authentic Mortal Kombat film in addition to online game Mortal Kombat 11, has died aged 75.
The star of The Final Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Man within the Excessive Citadel, died Thursday in Santa Barbara on account of problems from a stroke, Deadline reported.
Tagawa famously performed evil sorcerer Shang Tsung within the 1995 adaptation of the Mortal Kombat online game, turning into an immediately recognizable face for a military of followers. Within the film, Shang Tsung factors to a helpless Liu Kang whereas holding his brother, Chan hostage, and declares: “your brother’s soul is mine!” Tagawa would go on to make his ‘Your soul is mine!’ line an iconic a part of Shang Tsung lore, and it has endured within the 30 years since. After the unique Mortal Kombat film, Tagawa went on to play Shang Tsung a number of instances, together with in 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11, the place his voice and bodily likeness was used — a lot to the delight of followers.
Different movie roles included Kwang in James Bond film Licence to Kill, Commander Minoru Genda in Pearl Harbor, and Heihachi Mishima within the 2009 Tekken film and its 2014 sequel, Tekken 2: Kazuya’s Revenge.
Tagawa’s final main function got here in 2015, when he performed one of many lead characters in Amazon’s The Man within the Excessive Citadel. His last function was voicing Eiji the Swordmaker in Season 1 of Netflix’s well-received animated Blue Eye Samurai.
Ed Boon, improvement chief at Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm, paid tribute to Tagawa in a submit on social media. “We misplaced a legend right this moment,” he stated. “We had the privilege of his portrayal on the primary MK movie but in addition as a tremendous voice actor within the Mortal Kombat 11 recreation. Cary was one in every of a sort. He mixed hazard, swagger and athleticism to his roles and can all the time be remembered as the person who first introduced Shang Tsung to life on movie. Relaxation in Peace. Your soul is everlasting.”
Todd Garner, producer on the 2021 Mortal Kombat film in addition to its upcoming sequel, additionally took to social media, saying: “Unhappy information. Nice man. Nice actor. He shall be missed.”
We misplaced a legend right this moment. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa @CHTOfficial performed Shang Tsung within the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie and sadly handed away at age 75. We had the privilege of his portrayal on the primary MK movie but in addition as a tremendous voice actor within the Mortal Kombat 11 recreation.
Cary was one… pic.twitter.com/iAnTc0odGH
— Ed Boon (@noobde) December 5, 2025
Man 🙁
RIP to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
You’ll all the time be my Shang Tsung pic.twitter.com/bv7NwaF04I
— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) December 5, 2025
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You’ll be able to attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
