‘Beef’ and ‘Star Trek’ Acting Icon Dead Aged 70 After Cancer Battle — ‘Her Spirit, Talent and Tenacity Will Be Missed’
Star Trek and Beef actress Patti Yasutake has passed away.
Aug. 7 2024, Published 8:45 a.m. ET
Patti Yasutake, the acting icon best known for her roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the Netflix hit Beef, has passed away. She was 70.
RadarOnline.com can reveal Yasutake passed away on August 5 in Santa Monica following a lengthy battle with cancer.
Patti Yasutake was best known for her role as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Yasutake’s manager Kyle Fritz confirmed her passing, saying: “Patti was my first client when I began over 30 years ago. We enjoyed every day we got to work together, and I will miss her spirit, talent and tenacity but most of all her friendship.”
Fritz said in another statement: “Patti was not only a client but a ‘chosen family member’.
“She was the very first actress I ever signed and a friendship of over 30 years ensued. It was an honor to know her, work with her and love her.”
Yasutake’s death on Monday at 70 came after a long battle with a rare form of T-cell lymphoma, according to THR. She passed away at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center.
Yasutake battled a rare form of T-cell lymphoma before her death.
Yasutake, a California native, was born in Gardena on September 6, 1953. She studied acting at UCLA where she later graduated with a degree in theater.
The Stark Trek and Beef star’s acting career launched in 1982 when she appeared alongside William Shatner, 93, in the police drama T. J. Hooker.
She went on to land a major role in director Ron Howard’s 1986 comedy Gung Go, in which she starred as Umeki – a Japanese wife working to Americanize herself in the United States.
Her filmography also included the 1993 movie Blind Spot, 1996’s Road to Galveston, and the 1999 hit Drop Dead Gorgeous.
William Shatner and Yasutake appeared together in T. J. Hooker in 1982.
But Yasutake was best known for her recurring role as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
While she appeared in 16 episodes of the popular TV show between its premiere in 1987 and its finale in 1994, Yasutake also went on to reprise the role of Nurse Ogawa in the spinoff films Star Trek Generations in 1994 and Star Trek: First Contact in 1996.
Yasutake was praised for her role as Nurse Ogawa in the Star Trek franchise because she was one of only two recurring ethnically Asian characters on the show.
Christine Dinh, of Startrek.com, said of Yasutake’s role as Nurse Ogawa: “There were so few characters who looked like me on-screen in Western media that I could count them on one hand.
Yasutake poses with the cast of Beef during the hit Netflix show's premiere on March 30, 2023.
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“What stands out about Alyssa Ogawa’s story is that it spoke to the Asian American experience but wasn’t about that.”
Yasutake’s final role before her cancer death this week was in the three-time Emmy winning Netflix show Beef. She starred alongside Ali Wong, 42, Steven Yeun, 40, and Joseph Lee, 36.
Yasutake – who starred as Fumi Nakai, the mother-in-law of Wong’s character Amy Lau, in Beef – said she was “gratified” to land the role during an interview in April 2023.
She said: “It feels deeply gratifying that not only did I have the opportunity to participate in it, and we had such fun making it, but that the audiences are having such fun.
“I can’t even describe it. It’s just a thrill.”
The beloved actress is survived by her siblings Linda Hayashi and Steve Yasutake. A memorial service for Yasutake will be held at East West Players in Los Angeles on August 25.
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