Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who played Shang Tsung in the original Mortal Kombat movie as well as video game Mortal Kombat 11, has died aged 75.
The star of The Last Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Man in the High Castle, died Thursday in Santa Barbara due to complications from a stroke, Deadline reported.
Tagawa famously played evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in the 1995 adaptation of the Mortal Kombat video game, becoming an instantly recognizable face for an army of fans. In the movie, Shang Tsung points to a helpless Liu Kang while 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 part of Shang Tsung lore, and it has endured in the 30 years since. After the original Mortal Kombat movie, Tagawa went on to play Shang Tsung multiple times, including in 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11, where his voice and physical likeness was used — much to the delight of fans.
Other film roles included Kwang in James Bond movie Licence to Kill, Commander Minoru Genda in Pearl Harbor, and Heihachi Mishima in the 2009 Tekken movie and its 2014 sequel, Tekken 2: Kazuya’s Revenge.
Tagawa’s last major role came in 2015, when he played one of the lead characters in Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle. His final role was voicing Eiji the Swordmaker in Season 1 of Netflix’s well-received animated Blue Eye Samurai.
Ed Boon, development chief at Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm, paid tribute to Tagawa in a post on social media. “We lost a legend today,” he said. “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.”
Todd Garner, producer on the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie as well as its upcoming sequel, also took to social media, saying: “Sad news. Great man. Great actor. He will be missed.”
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… pic.twitter.com/iAnTc0odGH
— Ed Boon (@noobde) December 5, 2025
Man 🙁
RIP to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
You will always be my Shang Tsung pic.twitter.com/bv7NwaF04I
— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) December 5, 2025
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
