Mako
Mako, born Makoto Iwamatsu in Kobe, Japan, was a prominent Japanese-American actor and voice artist known for his significant contributions to theater and film over a career spanning more than forty years. After moving to New York with his family during his youth, Mako initially pursued architecture before being drawn to theater. His military service in Korea deepened his connection to his Japanese roots, and after returning to the U.S., he trained at the Pasadena Playhouse. Mako's career began with small roles on television, where he often encountered typecasting and stereotypical portrayals of Asian characters.
In response to the lack of opportunities for Asian actors, Mako co-founded the East West Players, the first Asian American repertory theater, which aimed to elevate Asian and Pacific Islander narratives. He gained critical acclaim for his performance in "The Sand Pebbles," earning Academy and Golden Globe nominations. Mako's versatility led to memorable roles in iconic films, including "Conan the Barbarian," "Seven Years in Tibet," and "Memoirs of a Geisha." Aside from his live-action work, he became a well-known voice actor in animated series such as "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Mako passed away in 2006, leaving a legacy of advocacy for greater representation and equality in the arts for Asian Americans.
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Subject Terms
Mako
Japanese-born actor
- Pronunciation: MAH-koh-toh ee-wah-MAHT-sew
- Born: December 10, 1933
- Birthplace: Kobe, Japan
- Died: July 21, 2006
- Place of death: Somis, California
Mako was an award-winning television, stage, and film actor whose career spanned over forty years. He was integral in helping Asian and Asian American actors break away from stereotypical roles in film and on television.
Birth name: Makoto Iwamatsu
Areas of achievement: Film, theater, activism
Early Life
Makoto Iwamatsu, who took the stage name Mako, was born in Kobe, Japan, to parents Atsushi and Mitsu Iwamatsu. His father was a noted children’s book writer who wrote under the pen name of Taro Yashima. When he was still young, Mako’s parents moved to New York to study art. During WWII, they worked for the Office of War Information and were granted residency when the war ended. Mako lived with his grandparents in Japan until he was fifteen years old and then followed his parents to New York.
Mako enrolled at the Pratt Institute to study architecture, but he gravitated toward theater after a friend asked for his help designing and creating a theater set. He began skipping classes at the institute to get more involved in the theater and eventually lost his deferment. Mako was drafted into the US Army where he served for two years in Korea and often visited Japan while on leave, which restored ties to his native culture.
When Mako returned from his military service, he moved to Los Angeles, California, to join his parents and enrolled in theater classes at the prominent Pasadena Playhouse, which he paid for using money he earned from the GI Bill. The classes at the Playhouse were very competitive, but Mako stayed in the program despite students being cut each term. Mako then moved to New York to study method acting and returned to Los Angeles after two years. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1956, and his first role, which was un-credited, was in the 1959 feature, Never So Few.
Life’s Work
Mako played small roles in various television series in the sixties and seventies such as 77 Sunset Strip, I Spy, and I Dream of Jeannie. He also appeared as different characters in both McHale’s Navy and Ensign O’Toole. The roles were stereotypical and common for the era: laborers or laundrymen who spoke broken English. Mako was dismayed by the lack of leading roles for Asians and Asian Americans, which were typically played by Caucasian actors in makeup.
To combat the problem of stereotyping, Mako helped found the East West Players in 1965 and served as the artistic director until 1981. Since its beginning as the first Asian American repertory theater, it has produced Asian and Pacific Islander performances and promoted actors of Asian descent. Their first show was held in a church basement, and director Robert Wise, who was casting for the movie The Sand Pebbles (1966), was in the audience opening night. Impressed by Mako’s talent, Wise cast him in the movie along with Steve McQueen. Although the role was “the usual” for an Asian actor—that of a Chinese engine room worker—Mako played the part so well that critics wrote that he had elevated the role above its stereotypical slant, and he was nominated for both Academy and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actor.
Mako continued to play small parts on hundreds of television shows including multiple appearances as different characters on the popular show M*A*S*H (1972–83). In 1976, he played three different parts in the original stage production of playwright Stephen Sondheim’s musical, Pacific Overtures, which garnered a Tony nomination. He was cast as The Wizard in the box office hit, Conan the Barbarian (1982) and its sequel, Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was also the narrator for the first movie, which aptly suited his trademark raspy voice. Mako would later capitalize on his voice by doing voice-overs for numerous animated series such as Samurai Jack and Avatar: The Last Airbender. He also provided voice-overs for video games.
Mako also appeared in the box office hits Seven Years in Tibet (1997), along with Brad Pitt, and Pearl Harbor (2001), where he played Admiral Yamamoto. He had a major role in the 2005 hit, Memoirs of a Geisha.
Mako succumbed to esophageal cancer in 2006 and was recognized at the Seventy-Ninth Annual Academy Awards as among those in the film industry who had passed away the previous year. His last movie, TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), for which he did the voice of Splinter, was released in 2007 and was dedicated to his memory.
Significance
Over the course of his more than forty-year career, Mako appeared in hundreds of television shows and stage productions and over fifty films, and he performed numerous voice-overs for cartoons and video games. He was nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe and is one of only a few Japanese performers nominated for an Academy Award.
Mako worked his entire career in the fight against stereotyping Asian American actors, and he made significant strides in his quest for equality.
Bibliography
Kurahashi, Yuko. Culture on State: The History of the East West Players. New York: Garland, 1999. Provides a thirty-year history of the first Asian American repertory theater. Mako is featured prominently throughout.
Lee, Esther Kim. A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006. Print. Provides a survey of Asian American theater from 1965 through 2005 and includes an examination of actor activism and Asian Diaspora.
Lee, Joann Faung Jean. Asian American Actors: Oral Histories from Stage, Screen, and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000. Print. Features narratives of Asian American actors reflecting on prejudice in the film and television industries.