James Shigeta
Acting

James Shigeta

Born 17 June 1929 · Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA · Died 28 July 2014

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

Die Hard
Mulan
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Little House on the Prairie
Beverly Hills, 90210
Babylon 5
Brother
Airwolf
Murder, She Wrote
Magnum, P.I.
Midway
Mission: Impossible
Yorktown: A Time to Heal
The People I've Slept With
Brother
Mulan
Drive
Space Marines
Midnight Man
Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die
Cage II: The Arena of Death
China Cry
Cage
Die Hard
Tomorrow's Child
The Renegades
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb
Samurai
Midway
The Killer Who Wouldn't Die
Matt Helm
The Yakuza
The Questor Tapes
Lost Horizon
Operation Heartbeat
The Young Lawyers
Escape to Mindanao
Nobody's Perfect
Manila, Open City
Death Walks in Laredo
Paradise, Hawaiian Style
Carol for Another Christmas
Flower Drum Song
Cry for Happy
Bridge to the Sun
Walk Like a Dragon
The Crimson Kimono
James Shigeta · Midrow