- published: 26 Nov 2015
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Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (田川 洋行, Tagawa Hiroyuki, born September 27, 1950) is a Japanese-American actor, sports physiologist, martial artist and stuntman.
In addition to his extensive film work, he has appeared on television in Thunder in Paradise (1995), Nash Bridges (1996), Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003) and Heroes (2007). He also provided the voice of Sin Tzu for the video game Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu. He played the part of Earth Alliance security officer Morishi in Babylon 5 ("Convictions"). He played the evil soul-stealing sorcerer Shang Tsung in a film adaptation of the video game Mortal Kombat, a role he would reprise 18 years later for Mortal Kombat Legacy. He also played the evil mastermind Heihachi Mishima in the film adaptation of Tekken.
Tagawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, the son of a Japanese actress and a Japanese-American father who served in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Fort Hood, Texas. He speaks both English and Japanese and is also fluent in Korean and Spanish. He was raised in various cities. He and his family finally settled in Southern California, where he began acting in high school while attending Duarte High School. He attended the University of Southern California, and was an exchange student in Japan.
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.
The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either passively, openly or via sabotage.
As a phrase meaning "the boss" it dates from at least 1918.
In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.
The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."