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James Shigeta
Acting
Biography
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-Ame…
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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.
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BODY OF WORK
James Shigeta's Filmography
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Beam Me Up, Sulu
as Self
Yorktown: A Time to Heal
as Admiral Heilachiro Nogura
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
as (archive footage)
The People I've Slept With
as Charles Yang
Hollywood Chinese
as Self
The Slanted Screen
as Himself
Brother
as Sugimoto
No Poster
Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century
as Narrator
Mulan
as General Li (voice)
Drive
as Mr. Lau
Space Marines
as Ambassador Nakamura
Midnight Man
as Mao Mak
Cage II: The Arena of Death
as Tin Lum Yin
Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die
as Det. Whoo
China Cry
as Dr. Sung
No Poster
Home from the Eastern Sea
as Narrator
Cage
as Tin Lum Yin
Slaying the Dragon
Die Hard
as Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi
The Renegades
as Jimmy Lee
Tomorrow's Child
as Donald Shibura
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb
as Field Marshal Abehata
Samurai
as Takeo Chisato
Midway
as Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
The Killer Who Wouldn't Die
as David Lao
Matt Helm
as Tom McCauley
The Yakuza
as Goro
The Questor Tapes
as Dr. Chen
Lost Horizon
as Brother To-Lenn
The Young Lawyers
as Lee Ahn
Operation Heartbeat
as Chief Resident
Escape to Mindanao
as Lt. Takahashi
Manila, Open City
as Captain Murakami
Nobody's Perfect
as Diver Toshi O'Hara
No Poster
The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk
as George Ti Ming
Death Walks in Laredo
as Lester Koto
Paradise, Hawaiian Style
as Danny Kohana
Carol for Another Christmas
as Japanese Doctor
Flower Drum Song
as Wang Ta
Bridge to the Sun
as Hidenari Terasaki
Cry for Happy
as Suzuki
Walk Like a Dragon
as Cheng Lu
The Crimson Kimono
as Detective Joe Kojaku