The 1995 Mortal Kombat is quite well renowned within the gaming community. Primarily because it's not embarrassingly awful. It's not great, mind you, but it's far from the abhorrence that is most video game movie adaptations.
The movie was first released on August 18, 1995 and grossed a very impressive $122 million on an $18 million budget. It was an example of an adaptation done right, and its success spoke volumes to the Mortal Kombat hysteria that was gripping the world in the early 1990s.
It's been 25 years since Mortal Kombat was released. Let's see what everyone's been up to.
Robin Shou
Playing protagonist Liu Kang was Robin Shou, real name Shou Wan Por. Shou has been pretty quiet in recent years, but he has popped up in a few things here and there. He starred as 14K in the Death Race series, the latest of which was Death Race 3: Inferno in 2013. He also appeared in the 2012 video game Sleeping Dogs, providing the voices of Conroy Wu and Roland Ho.
Christopher Lambert
Lambert portrayed Rayden, the God of thunder and de facto leader of the Mortal Kombat warriors. Lambert has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows throughout the years. From 2012-13 he was in six episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles, and in 2019 he played Bastien Moreau in four episodes of The Blacklist. He is also a film producer, having produced movies like Day of Wrath and The Goof Shepherd. Lambert was eventually replaced for Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, with James Remar taking his place.
Linden Ashby
Ashby gave a wonderful performance as Johnny Cage, everyone's favorite arrogant movie star. The dude took down Goro, for crying out loud! Ashby appeared as a Commander in Iron Man 3, a movie that grossed a whopping $1.2 billion at the global box office. But his most substantial post-Mortal Kombat role is that of Sheriff Noah Stilinski in Teen Wolf. He starred in all six seasons of the show, appearing in 88 episodes altogether.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
This Japanese-American character actor made for a terrific Shang Tsung, the "leader" of Mortal Kombat and primary antagonist.
The Cast Of All That: Where Are They Now?
Tagawa has done a lot of great stuff in recent years, like voicing Hashi in the horrifically underrated Kubo and the Two Strings. He has also starred in Netflix's Lost in Space and Amazon's The Man in the High Castle while also reprising his role as Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 11! He's showing no signs of slowing down.
Bridgette Wilson
Wilson played Sonya Blade in the first Mortal Kombat film but was replaced by Sandra Hess in Annihilation. It wasn't a major loss, considering the infamous quality of Annihilation. Wilson continued acting throughout the '90s and 2000s but retired from the business in 2008. Her final role was that of Farah in Screen Media Films' Phantom Punch. She is now retired and lives with her tennis player husband Pete Sampras in Bel Air, California.
Talisa Soto
Soto's career was at its peak in the late '80s and early '90s, playing Princess Kitana and Lupe Lamora in the James Bond film Licence to Kill. Soto's creative output has significantly slowed in recent years, and she's only been in a handful of productions since the turn of the millennium. In 2009 she was in a movie called La Mission, and in 2013 she made an uncredited appearance as Tisha in the Tom Hanks-led Elysium.
Chris Casamassa
Casamassa didn't so much act as he did provide the stunt work for everyone's favorite Mortal Kombat villain, Scorpion. Casamassa has deep roots in martial arts, as his father, Louis D. Casamassa, founded Red Dragon Karate. He was awarded the 8th degree black belt by the school in 2004.
Twilight Cast: Where Are They Now?
While he has popped up in various movies and TV shows here and there, most of his time is devoted to running his father's Red Dragon Karate School.
Trevor Goddard
Goddard was well known for playing Kano in Mortal Kombat, but he also appeared in the likes of JAG, Men of War, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Unfortunately, Goddard tragically passed away on June 7, 2003. His autopsy found that he had overdosed on heroin, cocaine, temazepam, and vicodin.
François Petit
Petit is a French actor and martial artist best known for playing Sub Zero in the first Mortal Kombat movie. Unfortunately, not much is known about Petit's personal life or his career, especially as of late. Throughout the 1990s he served as the head doctor of the WWF and was even mentioned in Mick Foley's autobiography as being a particularly great massage therapist. In 2010 he produced and starred in a movie titled Swishbucklers.
Keith Cooke
Cooke appeared very briefly as Reptile, essentially the green version of Scorpion and Sub Zero. And much like them, Cooke is a stunt man, not an actor. Cooke later appeared as the younger Sub Zero in Annihilation, and in 2003 he played Ang in the buddy cop comedy National Security. He has remained quiet ever since, although Wikipedia states that he is currently running his own martial arts studio. He and Chris Casamassa have a lot of things in common!