Biography
Mako, born Makoto Iwamatsu, was a Japanese-American actor. He was born in Kobe, Japan, on 10 December 1933 and died in Somis, California, on 21 July 2006.
He played Po-han in the 1966 film The Sand Pebbles, a performance that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1965 he co-founded East West Players, the first Asian American theatre company in the United States, and served as its artistic director. He trained at the Pasadena Playhouse after serving in the US Army and appeared on Broadway in the leading role in Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, receiving a Tony Award nomination.
His film roles include Akiro the Wizard in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984), and voice work as Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005). He was married to actress Shizuko Hoshi.
