Makoto Iwamatsu, more famous as ‘Mako,’ first appeared in the war-film ‘Never so Few’ (1959-uncredited). He then played various roles in series ‘Ensign O’Toole’ (1962-1963) and ‘McHale’s Navy’ (1962-1965).
After featuring in series ‘Gidget’ (1965), ‘I Spy’ (1965-1966), and the comedy-film ‘The Ugly Dachshund’ (1966), Mako portrayed ‘engine-room worker Po-Han’ in the epic war-film ‘The Sand Pebbles’ (1966), earning ‘Academy Award’ and ‘Golden Globe’ nominations for ‘Best Supporting Actor.’
Mako appeared in several TV-series, including ‘The Green Hornet’ (1966) as ‘Yoshimura,’ ‘The F.B.I.’ (1966-1968) as ‘Lt. Nakamura,’ ‘The Time Tunnel’ (1967), before starring as ‘Yuro’ in the TV-film ‘The Challenge’ and as the ‘Chinese laborer’ in the historical-film ‘The Hawaiians’ (both 1970).
Mako acted in several episodes of series ‘Kung Fu’ (1973), ‘Ironside’ (1974), and played different roles in the war-comedy series ‘M*A*S*H*’ (1974-1980). He appeared in the fantasy-adventure movie ‘The Island on the Top of the World’ (1974) as ‘Oomiak,’ the action-thriller ‘The Killer Elite’ (1975) as ‘Yuen Chung,’ the comedy-film ‘Under the Rainbow’ (1981) as ‘spy Nakomuri,’ the crime-film ‘An Eye for an Eye’ (1981) as ‘James Chan,’ and as Chan’s uncle in Jackie Chan’s Hollywood debut, ‘The Big Brawl’ (1980).
Mako featured as ‘Akiro the Wizard’ in the sword/sorcery films ‘Conan the Barbarian’ (1982), and ‘Conan the Destroyer’ (1984), and had recurrent-role in the drama-series ‘Hawaiian Heat’ (1984). After TV-films ‘Murder in Paradise’ (1990) and Emmy-nominated ‘Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes’ (1990), Mako appeared in the action-comedy ‘Sidekicks’ (1992), ‘RoboCops3’ (1993), the crime-thriller ‘Rising Sun’ (193) and as ‘Sorcerer Nakaro’ in the action-fantasy ‘Highlander III: The Sorcerer’ (1995).
Mako made guest-appearances in several series, including ‘The A-Team,’ ‘Frasier,’ ‘Monk,’ ‘Texas Ranger,’ and more. His later movie-appearances include ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ (1997), ‘Bulletproof Monk’ (2003), essayed ‘Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’ in war-drama ‘Pearl Harbor’ (2001), and starred as ‘Tan’ in ‘Cages’ (2005). He also provided voice for several TV-series.