James Yaegashi

James Yaegashi
Born	(1972-10-10) October 10, 1972 (age 52) Yokohama, Japan
Alma mater	University of Missouri–Kansas City
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Tami Schuch
Children	2

James Yaegashi (born October 10, 1972) is a Japanese American actor based in New York.

Early life

James Yaegashi was born in Yokohama and raised in Yamagata to an American mother and a Japanese father. Upon graduating high school, he moved to America and majored in acting and directing at University of Missouri–Kansas City. He moved to New York with his wife in 1998. ^[1]

Career

He has acted in various stage productions, including as Mr. Yunioshi in a stage production of Breakfast at Tiffany's ; a role that had historically been played in yellowface. Of the character Yaegashi said "He’s a real character, for starters. The film...made so many changes to the story...Yunioshi is a Nisei, a Japanese American from California. In the movie, Mickey Rooney played him as if he was fresh off the boat." He ultimately felt it was necessary to play the character to portray ethnic characters in a positive light. ^[2] Yaegashi first entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a minor role in Daredevil , but had a more notable role when he was cast as Robert Minoru in the Hulu original series Runaways based on the Marvel Comics series. ^[3] In 2004, he voiced the Chinese Triad leader, Wu Zi Mu, in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas . He later also voiced an undercover police officer called Charlie in Grand Theft Auto IV and the expansion pack Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned .

Personal life

James Yaegashi is married with two children. ^{[1] [4]} He is also bilingual. ^[4]

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	The Thomas Crown Affair	Crown Acquisitions Executive
1999	Spin the Bottle	Cole
2000	Lisa Picard Is Famous	Alex
2001	Thirteen Conversations About One Thing	Legal Assistant
2007	Superheroes	James
2007	Noise	Japanese Businessman
2008	The Collective	The Janitor
2011	Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty	—	Director
2012	Man on a Ledge	Police Technician
2024	Civil War	Commercial Corporal

Television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Cashmere Mafia	Frederic	Episode: "Pilot"
2016	Madam Secretary	Rick	Episode: "Unity Node"
2016	Daredevil	Leader	Episode: "Regrets Only"
2017–2019	Runaways	Robert Minoru	Main cast
2019	New Amsterdam	Ethan Kimura	Episode: "The Karman Line"
2021	The Blacklist	Alexander Frayne	2 episodes
2023	Mech Cadets	Captain Skip Tanaka (voice)	10 episodes
2024	Fallout	Leon Von Felden	Episode: "The Beginning"
2024	Law & Order: Organized Crime	ATF Special Agent Marcus Cole	2 episodes

Theater roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Take Me Out	Takeshi Kawabata	Broadway
2005	A Naked Girl on the Appian Way	Bill Lapin	Broadway
2013	Breakfast at Tiffany's	I. Y. Yunioshi	Broadway
2014	The Oldest Boy	Father	Off-Broadway

Video game roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Wu Zi Mu / "Woozie"
2005	Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition	Tomoya (Tokyo)
2007	BioShock	Dr. Yi Suchong
2008	Grand Theft Auto IV	Charlie / The Crowd of Liberty City
2014	BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea	Yi Suchong / Bartender
2021	Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition	Wu Zi Mu / "Woozie"	Archival recordings Remaster of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas only

References

1. Davies, Kate (November 11, 2010). "Interview Part Two: James Yaegashi, Director of Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty". blogspot. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
2. Yamamoto, J.K. (March 29, 2013). "Meet Mr. Yaegashi — The New Yunioshi". Rafu Shimpo. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
3. Dinh, Christine (February 9, 2017). "'Marvel's Runaways' Sets Remaining Cast For Television Project With Hulu". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
4. Lemon, Brendan (November 24, 2014). "James Yaegashi Tells His Stories". Lincoln Center Theater. Retrieved December 11, 2017.

External links

• James Yaegashi at IMDb