The unsung heroes of cinema Part 14. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

You recognise their faces but you aren't quite sure where from. You see them and go "HIM!! I see him in everything" and then you forget them. There's a fleeting recognition that disappears as soon as they die in, usually, violent ways. These are the actors that if, IF, you notice them, don't turn up in the opening credits of a film. In fact you'll have to do some pretty lengthy searching of the closing scrolling credits to find them

Cary-Hiroyuku Tagawa

When your film has to have an evil Japanese villain, this chap is the go-to guy. No doubt a lovely chap but he just has dodgy written all over him when he appears onscreen. 

He's been in Marvel films before it was cool. Starred in one of the very very few computer game to film adaptions that was actually any fun. Voiced a CGI character in the finest animated film of 2016. He's taken on Bruce Lee's son. He's eaten sushi off boobies. Played a damn dirty ape in an awful remake. Faced off against both Jake AND The Fatman. He's bombed Pearl Harbor. He's taken on Wesley Snipes. TWICE! He's worked alongside Bond and Mitch Buchanan. All that and he made his film debut in a Bernardo Bertolucci film. As a eunuch. That's how you start a career.

Check out his resume here

Greatest Hits

Licence To Kill. One of the japanese agents who try to kill Franz Sanchez. Naturally has a bloody demise. Be weird if he didnt tbh.

Rising Sun. Eddie Sakamura, chief suspect in the murder that starts the story and sleazy playboy extraordinaire.

Mortal Kombat. Shang Tsung. Bad bastard. Tournament host and main baddie. Dies in a gloriously nasty fashion fitting the franchise.

Showdown In Little Tokyo. The big bad of the film. And a great one he is too. A nasty piece of work that likes nothing better than separating people from vital parts of their bodies. Ends up skewered to a Catherine wheel in the middle of Little Tokyo by Dolph Lundgren. Naturally.

Kubo And The Two Strings. Hashi. A small part but he knocks it out of the park with his distinctive tones.


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