| Charismatic, muscular,
handsome and often exuding a dangerous sexuality Cary-Hiroyuki
Tagawa specializes in playing the evilest of vile
villains, most of whom despite their exceptional
martial arts skills are killed in spectacular manners.
Tagawa's willingness to accept villainous roles such
as that of the wicked sorcerer Shang Tsung in Mortal
Combat (1995) has drawn criticism from certain
Asian American groups, who fear that he is
perpetrating negative stereotypes, but Tagawa offers
an interesting perspective, citing the fact that the
action film is the most popular genre world-wide. When
Tagawa plays a bad-guy, he plays it to the hilt,
trying to imbue his villains with depth to demonstrate
that in order to be so successful at being bad, they
must possess a certain amount of positive qualities,
including discipline, intelligence and commitment. In
his personal life, Tagawa is the antithesis of the
characters he plays. He is known for his unusual
courtesy, non-violent demeanor, his wisdom and for his
unflagging devotion to helping young people. A deeply
spiritual man, Tagawa has developed a unique
philosophical approach to martial arts,
"Chun-Shin," one that primarily centers on
developing the inner state and spiritual of the
practitioner rather than on the physical movements of
fighting. The purpose of the Chun Shinexercises of
Chun Shin is to release the energy-centers within,
creating a harmony between mind and body.
Tagawa was born in Tokyo, Japan the son of a
Japanese American father and a Tokyo actress. His
father, a native of Hawaii, worked for the US military
and when Tagawa was five, his family moved to Texas.
This was during the 1950s, when racism was rampant
throughout the South. For Tagawa, the change from a
supportive environment to a hostile one was a great
shock. As a young adult, Tagawa briefly attended the
University of Southern California where he studied
martial arts. The following year, he returned to the
Japan to further his studies at a prestigious school
under the tutelage of master Nakayama, one of the most
highly regarded fighters in Japan. But for Tagawa,
there was a spiritual component missing from training.
That and perhaps the feeling that he was not accepted
into Japanese society led him to return to the U.S.
Although he had been interested in acting for many
years, Tagawa did not become an actor until he was 36
years old. He made his feature film debut in The
Last Emperor (1984) and went on to work steadily
in feature films and on television. Many of his film
appearances have been in the direct-to-video category.
Still, Tagawa has managed to develop a devoted
following and has at least one web-site devoted to him
on the Internet. As mentioned, Tagawa specializes in
villains, but occasionally he plays different roles as
he did in the much-honored independent drama, Picture
Bride (1994) in which he plays a sugar cane farmer
who orders a Japanese mail-order bride 25-years
younger than himself. -- Sandra Brennan, All Movie
Guide |
