James Shigeta
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James Saburo Shigeta (June 17, 1929 – July 28, 2014) was an American actor, singer, and musician of Japanese descent. He was noted for his roles in The Crimson Kimono (1959), Walk Like a Dragon (1960), Flower Drum Song (1961), Bridge to the Sun (1961), Die Hard (1988), and Mulan (1998). In 1960, he won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, along with three other actors. In his early career, Shigeta often played romantic male lead roles, which were almost nonexistent for an actor of Asian descent during his time, making him a trailblazer in Asian American representation in media. The Goldsea Asian-American Daily magazine listed him as one of the "Most Inspiring Asian-Americans Of All Time". Before his Hollywood career he found success as a pop singer and performer abroad, especially in Japan and Australia.
Known for
Credits
Mulan (1998)
as General Li (voice)
Die Hard (1988)
as Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi
Midway (1976)
as Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
Cage II: The Arena of Death (1994)
as Tin Lum Yin
Brother (2000)
as Sugimoto
China Cry (1990)
as Dr. Sung
Lost Horizon (1973)
as Brother To-Lenn
The Young Lawyers (1969)
as Lee Ahn
Hollywood Chinese (2007)
as Self
Nobody's Perfect (1968)
as Diver Toshi O'Hara
Cry for Happy (1961)
as Suzuki
Drive (1997)
as Mr. Lau
Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
as Japanese Doctor
Flower Drum Song (1961)
as Wang Ta
Operation Heartbeat (1969)
as Chief Resident
The Slanted Screen (2006)
as Himself
The Crimson Kimono (1959)
as Detective Joe Kojaku
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
as Danny Kohana
Cage (1989)
as Tin Lum Yin
The People I've Slept With (2009)
as Charles Yang
Beam Me Up, Sulu (2025)
as Self
The Renegades (1982)
as Jimmy Lee
The Yakuza (1974)
as Goro
Space Marines (1996)
as Ambassador Nakamura
The Killer Who Wouldn't Die (1976)
as David Lao
Death Walks in Laredo (1967)
as Lester Koto
Midnight Man (1995)
as Mao Mak
Escape to Mindanao (1968)
as Lt. Takahashi
Bridge to the Sun (1961)
as Hidenari Terasaki
Slaying the Dragon (1988)
Actor
Samurai (1979)
as Takeo Chisato
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980)
as Field Marshal Abehata
Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die (1994)
as Det. Whoo
The Questor Tapes (1974)
as Dr. Chen
Tomorrow's Child (1982)
as Donald Shibura
Walk Like a Dragon (1960)
as Cheng Lu
Yorktown: A Time to Heal (2022)
as Admiral Heilachiro Nogura
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood (2019)
as (archive footage)
The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk (1967)
as George Ti Ming
Manila, Open City (1968)
as Captain Murakami
Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century (1999)
as Narrator
Matt Helm (1975)
as Tom McCauley
Home from the Eastern Sea (1990)
as Narrator