Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa has passed away at 75 in Santa Barbara, California, from complications of a stroke, his publicist Penny Vizcarra confirmed. He was surrounded by his children.

The Japanese-American actor enjoyed a nearly 40-year career with over 150 roles, including Mortal Kombat, Licence to Kill, The Man in the High Castle, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Pearl Harbor.

Tagawa is best remembered as Shang Tsung, the villainous sorcerer he first portrayed in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film. He reprised the role in Mortal Kombat: Legacy (2013), Mortal Kombat X: Generation (2015), voiced the character in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), and his likeness appeared in Mortal Kombat: Onslaught (2023). Reflecting on the role, he called it “perfect timing,” noting the film amplified the video game’s popularity.

His breakout role was as driver Chang in The Last Emperor (1987). He later appeared in James Bond’s Licence to Kill (1989) as Kwang, and alongside Sean Connery in Rising Sun (1993). Other notable roles included Baywatch, Miami Vice, MacGyver, and his final credit in the 2023 animated series Blue Eye Samurai.

Tagawa’s father served in the US Army, and his mother, a Tokyo aristocrat, performed in Takarazuka, an all-female musical revue. On his acting roots, he told The Guardian: “My mother ran away to join the theatre, so acting is in my genes.”