Mako Iwamatsu

  

This article is about the voice actor. For the character in The Legend of Korra, see Mako.

Mako Iwamatsu
Biographical information
Full name	岩松 信 Iwamatsu Makoto
Born	December 10, 1933 Kobe, Japan
Died	July 21, 2006 (age 72) Somis, California
First credit	Never So Few (1959)
Further information
Link(s)	IMDb Facebook

Mako Iwamatsu (Japanese: マコ 岩松 Mako Iwamatsu) was an Oscar-and Tony-nominated Japanese-born American actor. Many of his acting roles credited him simply as Mako, omitting his surname. He is known for his acting role as Akiro the Wizard in Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer and his voice roles as Aku in Samurai Jack and Iroh in thirty episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Avatar: The Last Airbender credits

Uncle

Character information: Iroh

30 episodes

101. "The Boy in the Iceberg" 102. "The Avatar Returns" 103. "The Southern Air Temple" 104. "The Warriors of Kyoshi" 107. "Winter Solstice, Part 1: The Spirit World" 108. "Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku" 109. "The Waterbending Scroll" 112. "The Storm" 113. "The Blue Spirit" 115. "Bato of the Water Tribe" 118. "The Waterbending Master" 119. "The Siege of the North, Part 1" 120. "The Siege of the North, Part 2" 201. "The Avatar State" 202. "The Cave of Two Lovers" 204. "The Swamp" 205. "Avatar Day" 207. "Zuko Alone" 208. "The Chase" 209. "Bitter Work" 211. "The Desert" 212. "The Serpent's Pass" 213. "The Drill" 214. "City of Walls and Secrets" 215. "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" 216. "Appa's Lost Days" 217. "Lake Laogai" 218. "The Earth King" 219. "The Guru" 220. "The Crossroads of Destiny"

Additional voices

• 119. "The Siege of the North, Part 1"
• 120. "The Siege of the North, Part 2"

Selected other credits

Television work

• Black Sash
• Dexter's Laboratory
• Duck Dodgers
• Hawaiian Heat
• M*A*S*H
• Samurai Jack
• The West Wing

Filmography

• Rise: Blood Hunter (2007) (released posthumously)
• TMNT (2007 - voice actor) (released posthumously)
• Genndy's Scrapbook (2005; video documentary short)
• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
• Cages (2005)
• Bulletproof Monk (2003)
• Pearl Harbor (2001)
• Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000 - voice actor)
• Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
• RoboCop 3 (1993)
• Rising Sun (1993)
• Sidekicks (1992)
• Conan: The Destroyer (1984)
• Conan: The Barbarian (1982)
• An Eye for an Eye (1981)
• The Sand Pebbles (1966)

Other credits

• Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth (video game)
• Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (video game)
• Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku (video game)
• Secret Weapons Over Normandy (video game)
• True Crime: Streets of LA (video game)

Biographical information

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, and he later joined them there in 1949 and began studying architecture. He joined the military in the 1950s and became a naturalized American citizen in 1956. During his military service, he discovered his theatrical talent and trained at the Pasadena Community Playhouse while on leave.

Mako was married to actress Shizuko Hoshi and had two daughters with her, both of whom are actresses. He had 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, including James Hong, formed the East West Players theater company, first performing out of a church basement. The company is one of the earliest Asian-American theater 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 and for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for the 1976 musical Pacific Overtures. In 2005, he had a cameo role in Memoirs of a Geisha. His last leading role was in the 2005 film Cages, written and directed by Graham Streeter.

Mako was among the actors, producers, and directors interviewed in the 2006 documentary The Slanted Screen, directed by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian and Asian-American men in Hollywood.

Death

The staff of Avatar: The Last Airbender honored Mako at the end of Iroh's tale in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se".

Mako died after a brief period of suffering from esophageal cancer. One day prior to his death, Mako had been confirmed to star in the film TMNT as the voice of Splinter. The film's director Kevin Munroe confirmed that Mako had completed his recording before his death. The finished film was dedicated to Mako.

During the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", the segment titled "The Tale of Iroh" features a dedication to Mako. He was also featured in the Memoriam Montage in the 79th Academy Awards.

Legacy

The character Mako in The Legend of Korra is named after him in dedication.

Awards

• 2002: Won a Big Bear Lake International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1994: Earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Motion Picture; 7095 Hollywood Blvd.)

Trivia

• Greg Baldwin, who succeeded Mako as Iroh, Master Splinter in TMNT, and Aku in Samurai Jack, learned his Mako impression from growing up listening to the Pacific Overtures Broadway cast recording, which featured Mako as The Reciter.