Mako
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
He is a holder of a black belt in karate.
Mako is a recipient of the Margaret Harford Award, bestowed by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Association, for his work with East/West Players.
Biography
Born and raised in Japan, Mako moved to the USA after WWII. An architecture student, he got into set design and later acting through some friends in off-Broadway theater and later studied at the Pasadena Playhouse. He co-founded an Asian-American theater company, the East/West Players, with six other actors in 1965 and was noticed by Hollywood shortly thereafter. Mako's first major film role won him an Oscar nomination and remains his most memorable: that of Po-Han, the funny, tragic engine-room attendant and surprise boxing champ in "The Sand Pebbles" (1966), starring Steve McQueen.
A martial arts expert, Mako later appeared in many standard-issue action films such as "Armed Response" (1986), "Silent Assassins" (1988) and "The Perfect Weapon" (1991), and played many Hawaiians onscreen, as in--appropriately enough--"The Hawaiians" (1970) and the TV series "Hawaiian Heat" (1984). He played Akiro the wizard in Arnold Schwarzenegger's two "Conan" extravaganzas, but his more interesting roles have been in such offbeat items as "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" (1988), "The Wash" (1988), about the effects of divorce on a Japanese-American family; and "An Unremarkable Life" (1989), as a Chinese-American garage owner who disrupts the lives of two elderly sisters. More recently, he co-starred in one segment of the Showtime TV-movie "Riot" (1997), which examined the 1992 L.A. riots from the points of view of various city residents.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1949
Moved to New York at age 15 (date approximate)
1959
Feature debut in the American feature film, "Never So Few"
1965
Co-founded, with six other actors the East West Players theatre company, in Los Angeles
1966
First notable film role, "The Sand Pebbles"; Earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor
1967
TV acting debut, "Alfred of the Amazon"
1970
Portrayed the Chinese contract laborer Mun Ki in the epic movie "The Hawaiians," starring Charlton Heston and Tina Chen
1974
Appeared on the CBS series, "M*A*S*H," in multiple roles such as a Chinese doctor, North Korean soldier, and South Korean Major
1976
Made Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", for which he received a Tony nomination
1982
Appeared as the a wizard/narrator in "Conan the Barbarian," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
1984
Played Major Taro Oshira on the short-lived ABC police drama, "Hawaiian Heat"
1984
Reprised role as the narrator for "Conan the Destroyer"
1986
Cast in the action film, "Armed Response"
1988
Co-starred in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker: The Man and His Dream"
1989
Starred in "An Unremarkable Life," as a Chinese-American garage owner who disrupts the lives of two elderly sisters
1993
Played Kanemitsu in "Robocop 3"
1994
Portrayed the sorcerer, Nakano in "Highlander III"
1997
Co-starred in one segment of the Showtime TV-movie "Riot"
2000
Appeared in the Nickelodeon movie "Rugrats in Paris," as Coco's boss
2001
Cast as Admiral Yamamoto in the film, "Pearl Harbor"
2001
Voiced the evil demon, Aku in the animated series "Samurai Jack" on the Cartoon Network
2003
Voiced Commander Shima in the video game "Medal of Honor: Rising Sun"
2005
Guest-starred in an episode of the NBC political drama, "The West Wing," as an economics professor and former rival of President Bartlet
2005
Had a cameo role in "Memoirs of a Geisha," the feature adaptation of the best-selling novel
2007
Provided the voice of Splinter in "TMNT"; completed his recording before his death
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
He is a holder of a black belt in karate.
Mako is a recipient of the Margaret Harford Award, bestowed by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Association, for his work with East/West Players.
