James Shigeta

Birthday: 1929-06-17
Deathday: 2014-07-28
Birthplace: Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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.

Credits

Year Title Character
2022-04-05 Yorktown: A Time to Heal Admiral Heilachiro Nogura
2009-08-13 The People I've Slept With Charles Yang
2000-12-13 Brother Sugimoto
1998-06-18 Mulan General Li (voice)
1997-08-06 Drive Mr. Lau
1996-01-01 Space Marines Ambassador Nakamura
1995-05-09 Midnight Man Mao Mak
1994-12-14 Cage II: The Arena of Death Tin Lum Yin
1994-05-06 Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die Det. Whoo
1990-11-02 China Cry Dr. Sung
1989-09-01 Cage Tin Lum Yin
1988-11-04 Slaying the Dragon
1988-07-15 Die Hard Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi
1982-08-11 The Renegades Jimmy Lee
1982-03-22 Tomorrow's Child Donald Shibura
1980-11-23 Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb Field Marshal Abehata
1979-04-30 Samurai Takeo Chisato
1976-06-18 Midway Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
1976-04-04 The Killer Who Wouldn't Die David Lao
1975-05-07 Matt Helm Tom McCauley
1974-12-21 The Yakuza Goro
1974-01-23 The Questor Tapes Dr. Chen
1973-03-14 Lost Horizon Brother To-Lenn
1969-10-28 The Young Lawyers Lee Ahn
1969-04-17 Operation Heartbeat Chief Resident
1968-12-07 Escape to Mindanao Lt. Takahashi
1968-01-13 Manila, Open City Captain Murakami
1968-01-12 Nobody's Perfect Diver Toshi O'Hara
1967-09-08 The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk George Ti Ming
1967-02-18 Death Walks in Laredo Lester Koto
1966-04-23 Paradise, Hawaiian Style Danny Kohana
1964-12-28 Carol for Another Christmas Japanese Doctor
1961-11-09 Flower Drum Song Wang Ta
1961-10-17 Bridge to the Sun Hidenari Terasaki
1961-03-03 Cry for Happy Harue
1960-06-01 Walk Like a Dragon Cheng Lu
1959-10-21 The Crimson Kimono Detective Joe Kojaku