Mako height - How tall is Mako?

Passed away one day after being officially announced as the voice of Master Splinter in the animated movie TMNT (2007).

Following a long battle with cancer, Mako passed away on July 21, 2006, at the age of 72.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7095 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 2, 1994.

Was considered for the role of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (1984), but had to back out because of his casting in Conan the Destroyer (1984). The role eventually went to Pat Morita.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1976 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Pacific Overtures".

In 1966, he won an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his first film role, as the coolie "Po-Han" in The Sand Pebbles (1966). He worked steadily in feature films since. He appeared on Broadway in the leading role in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", and co-founded and served as artistic director for the highly-acclaimed East-West Players theatre company in Los Angeles.

He was the East West Players' first artistic director in 1965. He also taught acting classes there to help pay the company's bills. The company's first home was a basement in a Silver Lake church secured by co-founder Beulah Quo. It later moved to a storefront on Santa Monica Blvd. Since 1998, it has been housed in the historic Union Center for the Arts and performs in a 240 seat theater.

One of eight actors of Asian descent nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category. The others are Miyoshi Umeki who won Best Supporting Actress nominated for Sayonara (1957), Sessue Hayakawa nominated for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Ben Kingsley who won Best Actor for Gandhi (1982), Haing S. Ngor who won Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields (1984), Pat Morita nominated for The Karate Kid (1984), Ken Watanabe nominated for The Last Samurai (2003) and Rinko Kikuchi nominated for Babel (2006).

Army in the early 1950s and acted in shows for military personnel, discovering a talent and love for the theatre. He abandoned his plans to become an architect and instead enrolled at the famed Pasadena Community Playhouse. Following his studies there, he appeared in many stage productions and on television.

Born in Japan, Makoto Iwamatsu was living there with his grandparents while his parents studied art in the United States, when Japan and the U. S. went to war in 1941. His parents remained in the U. S. , working for the Office of War Information, and, at the cessation of the conflict, were granted U. S. residency by Congress. "Mako", as he became known, joined his parents in New York and studied architecture. He entered the U. S.