Mako Iwamatsu

Mako Iwamatsu (マコ 岩松), born Makoto Iwamatsu (岩松 信) (December 10, 1933 – July 21, 2006), was a Japanese-American actor. Many of his acting roles credited him simply as Mako, omitting his surname. Mako is known for Aku from Samurai Jack, Master Splinter from the movie TMNT, Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Mr. Lee from Sidekicks.

Personal life
Mako was born in Kobe, Japan, the son of noted children's book author and illustrator Taro Yashima. His parents moved to the United States when he was a small child. He joined them there after World War II, in 1949, joining the military in the 1950s. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1956. When Mako first joined his parents in the USA, he studied architecture. During his military service, he discovered his theatrical talent, and trained at the Pasadena Community Playhouse.

Mako was married to actress Shizuko Hoshi with whom he had two daughters (both are actresses) and three grandchildren.

Career
Mako's first cinema role was in the 1959 film Never So Few. In 1965, frustrated by the limited roles available to himself and other Asian American actors, Mako and six others formed the East West Players theatre company, first performing out of a church basement. The company is one of the earliest Asian American theatre organizations, and not only provided a venue for Asian American actors to train and perform, but nurtured many Asian American playwrights. Mako remained artistic director of the company until 1989.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1966 film The Sand Pebbles. Other roles include the Chinese contract laborer Mun Ki in the 1970 epic movie The Hawaiians starring Charlton Heston and Tina Chen, Yuen Chung in The Killer Elite the 1975 film directed by Sam Pekinpah and starring James Caan, Robert Duval and also the famous martial artist Tak Kubota, the sorcerer Nakano in Highlander III: The Final Dimension, the Wizard Akiro, opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the two Conan movies Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, the Japanese agent in the comedy Under the Rainbow, Mr. Lee in Sidekicks, Kanemitsu in RoboCop 3 in 1993, the introductory voice for the ending theme of Dexter's Laboratory, Kungo Tsarong in Seven Years in Tibet, and  Admiral Yamamoto in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor. He also had a role in Bulletproof Monk. In 2005, Mako had a cameo role in Memoirs of a Geisha. Mako's last leading role was in the 2005 film Cages, written and directed by Graham Streeter. He also appeared to some Japanese TV dramas and films as such as Masahiro Shinoda's Owls' Castle and Takashi Miike's The Bird People in China.

He appeared on the TV show McHale's Navy several times, playing Imperial Japanese officers, soldiers and sailors. He also later appeared on the TV show M*A*S*H, playing multiple roles such as a Chinese doctor, North Korean soldier, and South Korean major. He was the blind philosopher Li Sung in two episodes of the TV show The Incredible Hulk. Mako also appeared in an episode of the TV show F Troop. He also fought Bruce Lee in an episode of The Green Hornet. He played the character Lin Duk Coo in an episode of The A-Team. He guest starred in an episode of season one of Frasier as well as in an episode of Tour of Duty as a Vietnamese scout. He played Jackie Chan's uncle/sifu in Chan's first American movie The Big Brawl. Mako voiced Commander Shima in the video game Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. He also played the role of the goblin Grubjub in the video game Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. He also was a guest star in an episode of Monk. His last "made-for-TV" movie appears to be Rise: Blood Hunter in 2007.

Mako's Broadway career included creating the role of "The Reciter" in the original production of Pacific Overtures in 1976 (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical) and starring in the limited run of the play Shimada. in 1992.

He was the voice actor of the evil demon Aku in the animated series Samurai Jack, and as the parody of Aku, Achoo, in Duck Dodgers, as well as Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender. He had a guest appearance in the Nickelodeon movie Rugrats in Paris: The Movie as the boss of Coco. He guest-starred in the episode "A Good Day" of The West Wing as an economics professor and former rival of President Bartlet.

Mako has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7095 Hollywood Blvd. He was among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in the documentary The Slanted Screen (2006), directed by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian and Asian American men in Hollywood.

Death
Mako died in Somis, California on July 21, 2006, aged 72, from esophageal cancer. One day before his death, Mako had been confirmed to star in the film TMNT, providing the voice of Splinter. Kevin Munroe, director of the film, confirmed that Mako had completed his recording before his death. The finished film was dedicated to Mako.

During an Avatar: The Last Airbender episode, titled "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", which comprises several small stories about the main characters, there is a segment titled, "The Tale of Iroh." It features a dedication to Mako, as he was the voice actor for the character Iroh for the first and second seasons. He was also featured in the Memoriam Montage in the 79th Academy Awards.