Die Hard1988
As Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi
TMDb 7.8 / 10
James Shigeta
Born
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.
Filmography (43)
Mulan1998
As General Li (voice)
TMDb 7.9 / 10
Midway1976
As Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
TMDb 6.6 / 10
Brother2000
As Sugimoto
TMDb 7.1 / 10
The Questor Tapes1974
As Dr. Chen
TMDb 5.9 / 10
The Yakuza1974
As Goro
TMDb 7.1 / 10
Cage II: The Arena of Death1994
As Tin Lum Yin
TMDb 3.2 / 10
Drive1997
As Mr. Lau
TMDb 6.1 / 10
China Cry1990
As Dr. Sung
TMDb 6.4 / 10
Lost Horizon1973
As Brother To-Lenn
TMDb 5.4 / 10
Space Marines1996
As Ambassador Nakamura
TMDb 3.5 / 10
Paradise, Hawaiian Style1966
As Danny Kohana
TMDb 5.2 / 10
Flower Drum Song1961
As Wang Ta
TMDb 6.3 / 10
Cage1989
As Tin Lum Yin
TMDb 4.0 / 10
The Young Lawyers1969
As Lee Ahn
TMDb 10.0 / 10
The Crimson Kimono1959
As Detective Joe Kojaku
TMDb 6.6 / 10
The People I've Slept With2009
As Charles Yang
TMDb 4.5 / 10
Nobody's Perfect1968
As Diver Toshi O'Hara
TMDb 6.3 / 10
Hollywood Chinese2007
As Self
The Renegades1982
As Jimmy Lee
TMDb 6.6 / 10
Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb1980
As Field Marshal Abehata
TMDb 6.0 / 10
Escape to Mindanao1968
As Lt. Takahashi
TMDb 9.0 / 10
Cry for Happy1961
As Suzuki
TMDb 5.4 / 10
Midnight Man1995
As Mao Mak
TMDb 5.2 / 10
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood2019
As (archive footage)
TMDb 5.7 / 10
Beam Me Up, Sulu2025
As Self
TMDb 6.0 / 10
The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk
The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk1967
As George Ti Ming
TMDb 6.3 / 10
The Killer Who Wouldn't Die1976
As David Lao
TMDb 7.0 / 10
Walk Like a Dragon1960
As Cheng Lu
TMDb 6.3 / 10
Tomorrow's Child1982
As Donald Shibura
TMDb 4.3 / 10
Manila, Open City1968
As Captain Murakami
TMDb 8.5 / 10
Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die1994
As Det. Whoo
TMDb 6.8 / 10
The Slanted Screen2006
As Himself
TMDb 10.0 / 10
Operation Heartbeat1969
As Chief Resident
TMDb 8.0 / 10
Matt Helm1975
As Tom McCauley
Death Walks in Laredo1967
As Lester Koto
TMDb 7.2 / 10
Carol for Another Christmas1964
As Japanese Doctor
TMDb 5.9 / 10
Slaying the Dragon1988
TMDb 8.0 / 10
Bridge to the Sun1961
As Hidenari Terasaki
TMDb 6.9 / 10
Samurai1979
As Takeo Chisato
TMDb 9.0 / 10
Yorktown: A Time to Heal2022
As Admiral Heilachiro Nogura
Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century
Qigong: Ancient Chinese Healing for the 21st Century1999
As Narrator
Home from the Eastern Sea
Home from the Eastern Sea1990
As Narrator
Filmography and biography: TMDb