""Cary was a rare soul: generous, thoughtful, and endlessly committed to his craft," she wrote. "His loss is immeasurable. My heart is with his family, friends, and all who loved him.""
""Being Japanese and living in the South during the 1950s was pretty tough. That's when I first recognized the need for martial arts as a way to survive," he once told the German Kung Fu magazine."
"She actually asked him not to pursue the career "mainly because of the lack of good roles for Asians," he told ."
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa died at 75 on December 4 in Santa Barbara from complications of a stroke while surrounded by his children. Born in Japan and raised in the U.S. South, he was named after Cary Grant and worked as a celery farmer, limo driver, pizza supply-truck driver, and photojournalist before beginning acting at 36. His mother, a World War II-era Tokyo stage actress, discouraged him because of limited roles for Asians. A breakout role as Chang in the 1987 film The Last Emperor launched a decades-long career with credits including Planet of the Apes, Memoirs of a Geisha, License to Kill, Pearl Harbor, 47 Ronin, MacGyver, the Tekken film, and multiple portrayals of Shang Tsung. He studied martial arts and developed Chung-Shin to promote harmony of mind, body, and spirit.
Read at Vulture
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