Early life

Shimono was born and raised in Sacramento, California, to restaurant owners Masauchi Shimono and Edith Mary (née Otani). He has one sibling: Dr. Jiro Shimono, director of the Delaware Psychiatric Center.

During World War II, Shimono and his family were interned at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center and the Granada War Relocation Center.

He attended Sacramento High School and graduated from University of California, Berkeley.

Career

An accomplished stage actor, he has appeared on Broadway and in regional theaters including San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He was cast as Ito opposite Angela Lansbury's Auntie Mame in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical hit Mame in 1966. This was followed by Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen (1970), The Chickencoop Chinaman (1972), Ride the Winds (1974), and the role of Manjiro in Stephen Sondheim & Harold Prince's Pacific Overtures (1976). In 2010, he appeared in the world premiere of No-No Boy by Ken Narasaki based on the novel by John Okada.

His more memorable film roles include Hiroshi Kawamura in the 1990 drama Come See the Paradise, the coroner "Painless" Kumagai in 1990's Presumed Innocent, Dr. Max Shinoda in 1993's Suture, Lord Norinaga in 1993's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and in Old Dogs, alongside John Travolta and Robin Williams, as Japanese billionaire Yoshiro Nishamura. He can also be seen in Asian American independent films, The Sensei (2008), Americanese (2009) and Life Tastes Good (1999).

On television, he starred on the 2008 ABC family miniseries Samurai Girl. Then Shimono provided the voices of antique-shop owner/Chi Wizard Uncle Chan on the television series Jackie Chan Adventures, the elderly version of the Emperor (Jack's father) on Samurai Jack, Airbending Master Monk Gyatso and Master Yu on the popular series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Mister Sparkle ("In Marge We Trust") and Master Sushi Chef ("One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish") on The Simpsons and Mr. Murakami on 2012's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. He also appeared in Royal Pains, season 3 episode "But there's a catch", as Jono the gardener. In 1991 he had a role in the TV movie/pilot Plymouth, which at the time was considered to be one of the most expensive such movies ever made.

Personal life

He has been in a relationship with writer Steve Alden Nelson since 2001. The couple registered their domestic partnership in April 2005 and married in San Diego June 23, 2008.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]