was a Japanese-American actor, credited mononymously in almost all of his acting roles as simply . His career in film, on television, and on stage spanned five decades and 165 productions. He was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award.
Born and raised in Kobe, Mako moved to the United States after the Second World War, where his dissident parents had moved to escape political persecution. After serving with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he trained in acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and later co-founded the East West Players. His role as Po-Han (his second credited role on film) in the 1966 film The Sand Pebbles saw him nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
His other various roles included Kichijiro in the 1971 film adaptation of Silence, Oomiak "The Fearless One" in The Island at the Top of the World (1974), Akiro the Wizard in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984), and Kungo Tsarong in Seven Years in Tibet (1997). He was part of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's 1976 Broadway musical Pacific Overtures, which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Later in his career, he became well known for his voice-acting roles, including Mr. Yamaguchi in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Aku in the first four seasons of Samurai Jack (2001–04), and Iroh in the first two seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–06).
He died on July 21, 2006, at the age of 72 from esophageal cancer.
Early life and education
Mako was born Makoto Iwamatsu in Kobe, Japan, the son of children's authors and illustrators Tomoe Sasako and Atsushi Iwamatsu, better known by their pen names Mitsu and Taro Yashima. In 1939, his parents, who were political dissidents, moved to the United States, leaving Mako in the care of his grandmother. Because his parents lived on the East Coast, they were not interned during World War II; instead they opted to work for the U.S. Office of War Information and were later granted residency.
Iwamatsu's father owned an art studio in New York City, and as a teenager, he became acquainted with painter Hiroshi Honda. Though he faced racial discrimination, Iwamatsu bonded with his high-school peers over baseball, and was scouted by the Cleveland Indians.
He later enlisted in the U.S. Army in November 1953 and served until October 1955, during which he performed in plays for his fellow soldiers. He then trained at the Pasadena Playhouse and adopted the mononym Mako, as he found most people had difficulty pronouncing his full name. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1956. He remained artistic director of the company until 1989.
Mako's Broadway career included creating the roles of the Reciter, the shogun, and the Chicago-based inventor of the rickshaw, in the original 1976 production of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical Pacific Overtures, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. Mako's landlord at the time, Jerry Orbach, was also nominated for his role in Chicago; both lost, however, to George Rose from the revival of My Fair Lady. Mako recalled being awoken at 4:30 in the morning after the Tony ceremony by Orbach, who was shouting from the floor below: "Hey, Mako! What the fuck happened? I can't believe it; we lost to a fucking revival!". Mako reprised the role and directed the musical's production with the East West Players, and further reprised the role in a production at the San Jose Civic Light Opera in 1991. He also starred in the limited run of the play Shimada in 1992.
Television
Mako appeared on the television series McHale's Navy nine times between 1962 and 1965 playing Imperial Japanese officers, soldiers, and sailors. In 1965, he appeared on Gidget as a member of a rival surf group. He appeared as Low Sing, challenging Bruce Lee's character Kato in The Green Hornet episode "The Preying Mantis" (1966). Mako's biggest television role to date came in 1967 in The Time Tunnel, playing a sadistic soldier during the last months of World War II. That same year, Mako also appeared in an episode of the satirical comedy show F Troop.
Mako in appeared in "The Tide," a 1973 episode of Kung Fu as Wong Ti Lu. In 1974, he appeared in the Ironside episode "Terror on Grant Avenue". He appeared as a Japanese chef in the Columbo episode "Murder Under Glass" (1978). He was the blind philosopher Li Sung in two episodes of The Incredible Hulk (1978–79). From 1974 to 1980 he appeared on the television series M*A*S*H, playing multiple roles such as a Chinese doctor, a North Korean soldier, a South Korean medical doctor, and a South Korean lieutenant. He was featured in a season three episode of The Facts of Life, entitled "The Americanization of Miko" (1982). He also appeared on an episode of Magnum, P.I. entitled "The Arrow That Is Not Aimed" (1983). That same year he played the character Lin Duk Coo in an episode of The A-Team. He guest-starred in a 1987 episode of Tour of Duty as a Vietnamese scout. Mako guest starred opposite James Hong, Russell Wong and Elizabeth Sung on the popular action series The Equalizer as the ruthless gangster Jimmy Thanarat in the 1988 episode, "Riding the Elephant".
He guest-starred in the Walker, Texas Ranger episodes "Heart of the Dragon" (1997) and "Black Dragons" (2000), and in the Nickelodeon film Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000) as Coco's boss. He appeared on Charmed in 2003, creating magic for Chris (played by Drew Fuller). He guest-starred in the 2005 The West Wing episode "A Good Day" as an economics professor and former rival of President Bartlet. That same year, he was a guest star in the Monk episode "Mr. Monk vs. The Cobra".
Literature
Mako wrote one book that was published in 1984, Amerika O Ikiru (アメリカを生きる). It is currently out of print.
- ISBN-10 : 4931049184
- ISBN-13 : 978-4931049185
- Amazon UK Listing
- Amazon Brazil Listing
Voice actor
He was the voice of Aku, the main antagonist in the animated series Samurai Jack for the first four seasons produced from 2001 to 2004, and again in the series finale, which used his original audio. He also voiced Achoo (a parody of Aku) and the annoying alarm clock Happy Cat in a Samurai Jack-parodying episode of Duck Dodgers entitled "Samurai Quack". He provided the introductory voice for the ending theme of Dexter's Laboratory and voiced Iroh in the first two seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender from 2005 to 2006.
Video games
Mako made his video-game debut with the role of the goblin Grubjub in Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003). In the same year, he also voiced General Han Yu Kim in True Crime: Streets of LA, Masataka Shima in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, and various voices in Secret Weapons Over Normandy. In 2004, Mako voiced the narrator in the game Wrath Unleashed, and Aku in Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku.
Personal life
Mako was married to actress Shizuko Hoshi, with whom he had two daughters (both of whom are actresses) and three grandchildren.
The Avatar: The Last Airbender season-two episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" is dedicated to Mako. In the sequel series The Legend of Korra, main cast member Mako (voiced by David Faustino) is named after him.
After Mako's death, Greg Baldwin replaced him as Aku in Samurai Jack and Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ <!-- WP:ACCESSIBILITY & MOS:TABLECAPTION -->
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1959 || Never So Few || Soldier in Hospital || rowspan="2" | Uncredited
|-
| 1965 || McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force || Japanese Submarine Captain
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1966 || The Ugly Dachshund || Kenji ||
|-
| The Sand Pebbles || Po-Han || Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor<br>Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor — Motion Picture
|-
| 1968 || The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell || Calvin Coolidge Ishimura ||
|-
| 1969 || The Great Bank Robbery || Secret Agent Fong ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1970 || The Hawaiians || Mun Ki ||
|-
| Fools || Psychiatrist ||
|-
| 1971 || Silence || Kichijiro ||
|-
| 1972 || Yokohama Mama || Rooster || Voice, short
|-
| 1974 || The Island at the Top of the World || Oomiak ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1975 || Prisoners || Sergeant Nguyen ||
|-
| The Killer Elite || Yuen Chung ||
|-
| 1979 || The Bushido Blade || Enjiro ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1980 || The Big Brawl || Herbert ||
|-
| Hito Hata: Raise the Banner || Oda ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1981 || Under the Rainbow || Nakomuri ||
|-
| An Eye for an Eye || James Chan ||
|-
| 1982 || Conan the Barbarian || Akiro The Wizard ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1983 || Testament || Mike ||
|-
| The Last Ninja || Aitaro Sakura ||
|-
| 1984 || Conan the Destroyer || Akiro The Wizard ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1986 || Behind Enemy Lines || Captain Vinh ||
|-
| Armed Response || Akira Tanaka ||
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1988 || Silent Assassins || Oyama ||
|-
| Tucker: The Man and His Dream || Jimmy ||
|-
| The Wash || Nobu Matsumoto ||
|-
| 1989 || An Unremarkable Life || Max Chin ||
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1990 || Pu guang ren wu || Trang ||
|-
| Taking Care of Business || Mr. Sakamoto ||
|-
| Pacific Heights || Toshio Watanabe ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1991 || The Perfect Weapon || Kim ||
|-
| Strawberry Road || Frank Machida ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1992 || My Samurai || Mr. Tszing ||
|-
| Sidekicks || Mr. Lee ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1993 || RoboCop 3 || Mr. Kanemitsu ||
|-
| Rising Sun || Mr. Yoshida ||
|-
| rowspan=4 | 1994 || Cultivating Charlie || Katsu ||
|-
| Red Sun Rising || Buntoro Iga ||
|-
| A Dangerous Place || Sensei ||
|-
| Highlander III: The Sorcerer || Nakano ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1995 || Midnight Man || Buun Som ||
|-
| Crying Freeman || Shudo Shimazaki ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1996 || Balance of Power || Todo Matsumoto ||
|-
| Sworn to Justice || Mr. Young ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1997 || Sacred Trust || Mr. Jordan ||
|-
| Seven Years in Tibet || Kungo Tsarong ||
|-
| 1998 || The Bird People in China || Shen ||
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1999 || Alegría || Adult Momo ||
|-
| Kyohansha || Police ||
|-
| Owls' Castle || Toyotomi Hideyoshi ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000 || Talk to Taka || Mr. Hiro || Short
|-
| Rugrats in Paris: The Movie || Mr. Yamaguchi || Voice
|-
| 2001 || Pearl Harbor || Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ||
|-
| 2002 || Cruel Game || Straw Hat ||
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2003 || Bulletproof Monk || Mr. Kojima ||
|-
| Bus Story || Father Christmas || Short
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2005 || Cages || Tan ||
|-
| Memoirs of a Geisha || Sakamoto ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2007 || TMNT || Master Splinter || Voice; posthumous release; dedicated in memory
|
|-
|2020
|Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
|Aku
|Archival audio