Patti Yasutake, who portrayed Nurse Alyssa Ogawa on and a pair of franchise movies and Fumi Nakai, the widowed mother of Joseph Lee’s sculptor, on , has died. She was 70. Yasutake died Monday at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center after a long battle with a rare form of T-cell lymphoma, her longtime manager, Kyle Fritz, told .
“Patti was my first client when I began over 30 years ago,” he said in a statement. “We enjoyed every day we got to work together, and I will miss her spirit talent and tenacity but most of all her friendship.” The Los Angeles native also played a relocated Japanese wife earnestly trying to Americanize in the Ron Howard-directed (1986) and on its ABC series adaptation that lasted just nine episodes in 1986-87.
She received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her turn in (1988), and her big-screen résumé included (1992) and (1999) as well. Yasutake played Starfleet officer Nurse Ogawa on 16 episodes of the syndicated from 1990-94 and reprised the role for (1994) and (1996). Last year, she appeared on seven episodes of the Netflix sensation as the fierce mother of George Nakai and mother-in-law of Ali Wong’s Amy Lau.
Born on Sept. 6, 1953, Yasutake was raised in Gardena and Inglewood. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in theater and then began her career with the theater company East West Players, where she worked with the Oscar-nominated actor Mako — later her co-star in — for six years.
As a theater director, Yasutake develop.