James Shigeta

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James Shigeta
Born	June 17, 1933 (1933-06-17) (age 74) Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Awards won Golden Globe Awards Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer-Male 1960

James Shigeta (born June 17, 1933) is an American film and television actor.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 2 Filmography 3 Television 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Born in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry, Shigeta studied drama at New York University. While studying, he entered and won first prize on Ted Mack's television talent show, Original Amateur Hour. Before he could fully embark on a business career, Shigeta enlisted to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. He moved to Japan and starred in four Japanese musical films. While there, he also recorded a best selling record. ^[1]

[edit] Career

Shigeta first came on screen in the U.S., in 1959 as Detective Joe Koajku in Crimson Kimono. He was cast in two more feature films before being awarded a Golden Globe Award for the most promising male newcomer. ^[2] Yet, it was not until he was cast in the 1961 theatrical version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song that he received notability in Hollywood. He starred opposite actress Nancy Kwan as Wang Ta, a prospective fiancée. After the success of Flower Drum Song, Shigeta guest starred in television shows such as Perry Mason, Medical Center, and Little House on the Prairie. He also continued starring in films. In 1988, he played the ill-fated corporate executive Joseph Yoshinobo Takagi in the action adventure film Die Hard. He has lent his voice to Disney's 1998 animated film Mulan and a 2005 episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Also in 2005, Shigeta received a "Visionary Award" from the Asian American theatre organization, East West Players, at their annual anniversary gala in Los Angeles.^[3]

In 2006, Shigeta was among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in the documentary The Slanted Screen, directed by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian and Asian American men in Hollywood.

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	A Ribbon of Dreams	Jimmy Chan
2000	Brother	Sugimoto
1998	Mulan	General Li	Voice Role
1997	Drive	Mr. Lau
1996	Space Marines	Ambassador Nakamura
1995	Midnight Man	Mao Mak
1994	Cage II	Tin Lum Yin
1990	China Cry: A True Story	Dr. Sung
1989	Cage	Tin Lum Yin
1988	Die Hard	Joseph Yoshinobo Takagi
1976	Midway	Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo
1975	The Yakuza	Goro
1973	Lost Horizon	To Len
1968	Nobody's Perfect	Diver Toshi O'Hara
	Manila, Open City
1967	The Mystery of the Chinese Junk	George Ti Ming
1966	Paradise, Hawaiian Style	Danny Kohana
	Tre pistole contro Cesare	Lester Kato
1961	Flower Drum Song	Wang Ta
	Bridge to the Sun	Hidenari Terasaki
	Cry for Happy	Suzuki
1960	Walk Like a Dragon	Cheng Lu
1959	The Crimson Kimono	Det. Joe Kojaku

[edit] Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Old Wanderer	Episode: The Spirit World-Winter Solstice (1)
2004	Threat Matrix	Kang Sok-Joo	Episode: PPX
1999	Beverly Hills, 90210	Ben Sosna	Episode: Slipping Away Episode: The Loo-Ouch Episode: Nine Yolks Whipped Lightly
1997	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Inspector Mantjur Mr. Yamashiro/Japanese Prime Minister	Episode: Diamonds and Jade Episode: Night of the Zinja
1996	Cybill	Mr. Matsuzaki	Episode: Cybill and Maryann Go to Japan
1993, 1994	Renegade	Mr. Ota Hideo Maruyama	Episode: Samurai Episode: Black Wind
1994	Babylon 5	Taro Isogi	Episode: A Spider in the Web
	Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die	Det. Whoo
	seaQuest DSV	Montegnard Confederation President Chi	Episode: Better Than Martians Episode: The Last Lap at Luxury
1987, 1992	Murder, She Wrote	John Sukahara Luc Lee	Episode: The Corpse Flew First Class Episode: Sugar & Spice, Malice & Vice
1989	Jake and the Fatman		Episode: The Way You Look Tonight
	Mission: Impossible	Ki	Episode: The Lions
1984-1988	Simon & Simon	Daniel Yoshiro Musashi Sato Chen	Episode: Revolution# 9-1/2 Episode: Opposites Attack Episode: Tale of the Tiger
1987	The Hitchhiker	Nishi	Episode: Perfect Order
1983, 1986	Magnum, P.I.	Dr. Richard Enoka Mr. Obotu	Episode: Forty Years from Sand Island Episode: Paper War
1986	The Family Martinez	Judge Yamamoto
1985	Airwolf	Colonel Tranh Van Zung	Episode: The American Dream
1984	Matt Houston	Lin Ha	Episode: Blood Money
1983	Masquerade	Makko	Episode: Girls for Sale
	T. J. Hooker	Chow Duc Khan	Episode: Chinatown
1982	The Renegades	Jimmy Lee
	Strike Force		Episode: Chinatown
	Tomorrow's Child	Donald Shibura
	The Greatest American Hero	Colonel Shawn Liang	Episode: The Hand-Painted Thai
1980	Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb	Field Marshall Abehata
1979	Samurai	Takeo Chisato
	Fantasy Island	General Lin Sun	Episode: Spending Spree/The Hunted
1978	The Rockford Files	Clement Chin	Episode: Heartaches of a Fool
	Police Woman	Bernie Kim	Episode: The Human Rights of Tiki Kim
1977	The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries	Kapala	Episode: Wipe-Out
	Little House on the Prairie	Sam Wing	Episode: To Live with Fear (2)
1976	The Moneychangers	Wizard Wong
	Once an Eagle	Lin Tso-Han
	The Streets of San Francisco	Prosecutor	Episode: The Thrill Killers (1)
	The Killer Who Wouldn't Die	David Lao
	S.W.A.T.		Episode: The Chinese Connection
	Ellery Queen	Stephen Yang	Episode: The Adventure of the Judas Tree
1974, 1975	Kung Fu	Master Kwan Li Col. Lin Pei	Episode: The Garments of Rage Episode: The Forbidden Kingdom
1975	Matt Helm	Tom McCauley
	Khan!		Episode: Triad
1974	Emergency!	Mr. O'Brien	Episode: Foreign Trade
	The Questor Tapes	Dr. Chen
1969-1972	Medical Center	Resident Doctor Resident Doctor Dr. Osaka Resident Doctor	Episode: The Loner Episode: Runaway Episode: The V.D. Story Episode: Confession
1969, 1971	Ironside	Pak Soong	Episode: Love My Enemy Episode: No Motive for Murder
1970	Mission: Impossible	Shiki	Episode: Butterfly
1969	The Young Lawyers
	U.M.C.	Chief Resident
1968	Hawaii Five-O	Joseph Matsukino	Episode: Deathwatch
	Escape to Mindanao	Lt. Takahashi
	It Takes a Thief	Fong Sing	Episode: When Good Friends Get Together
1964, 1965	Ben Casey	Father Michael Hsueh Dr. Harvey Lee	Episode: The Evidence of Things Not Seen Episode: No More, Cried the Rooster-There Will Be Truth
1965	I Spy	Tommy	Episode: Three Hours on a Sunday Night
	Perry Mason	Ward Toyama	Episode: The Case of the Wrongful Writ
	The Bing Crosby Show	Joe	Episode: That's the Way the Suki Yakies
1963, 1964	The Outer Limits	Major Jong AIO Captain Newa	Episode: Nightmare Episode: The Inheritors (1)
1964	Carol for Another Christmas	The Doctor
	The Lieutenant	Captain Myang Lee	Episode: To Kill a Man
	Burke's Law	Sidney Ying	Episode: Who Killed the Paper Dragon?
1963	Dr. Kildare	Dr. Roy Shigera	Episode: One Clear Bright Thursday Morning
1962	Naked City	James Kam	Episode: The Contract
1961	Alcoa Premiere	Captain	Episode: The Fortress

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• James Shigeta at the Internet Movie Database
• James Shigeta at TV.com
• GoldenSea Asian American Profile
• New York Times Movie Biography
• Nichi Bei Times Q&A