Tamlyn Tomita

Japanese actress and singer, Tamlyn Tomita is known for her role as Kumiko in the American martial arts drama film, The Karate Kid Part II. Her other notable works include Come See the Paradise, The Joy Luck Club, Robot Stories, Picture Bride, Gaijin 2: Love Me as I Am and The Day After Tomorrow. Tomita was the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People Magazine in 1991. She also won the Asian Media Award at the Asian American International Film Festival’ in 2001.      

Early Life and Education

Tamlyn Tomita was born Tamlyn Naomi Tomita on January 27, 1966, in Okinawa, Japan. She belongs to Asian ethnicity and holds Japanese nationality. She is of Filipino and Okinawan descent. 

Tomita was born to Tomita Shiro and Asako Tomita. Her father was a distinguished Japanese-American who interned at Manzanar, California, during World War II. He also helped to found the first Asian Taskforce in the Los Angeles police department. Tomita lost her father in 1990.

Tamlyn Tomita graduated from the Granada Hills High School in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. She then majored in history at The University of California, Loss Angeles.

Career

Tamlyn Tomita began her acting career in 1984 when she was traveling as Nisei Week Queen to Hawaii, where Tomita was selected as part of a casting call by director John G. Avildsen. She was then offered to play in 1986 American martial arts drama film, The Karate Kid Part II as Kumiko.

In 1990, Tomita worked as a lead actress in the drama film Come See the Paradise, which earned positive reviews but was a commercial disaster. Her next significant role on the big screen was in the 1993 American film, ‘The Joy Luck Club’. The movie revolved around the relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese mothers, directed by Wayne Wang.

In 1994, Tamlyn Tomita appeared as kana in American Japanese-language 1995 feature-length independent film, Picture Bride. The same year, she was cast in short film, Notes on a Scale. Her other notable works include Four Rooms (1995),  Touch (1997), Robot Stories (2003), Gaijin 2: Love Me as I am (2005), Tekken (2009) Teacher of the Year (2014), and The Good Neighbor (2016).

Tamlyn Tomita was also featured in number of short films, such as Requiem (1995), Betty Anderson (2000), Day of Independence (2003), Peace (2006), Starlight Inn (2010), White Room: 02B3 (2012), Operation Marriage (2014) and Real Artists (2017).

She is also a popular television star. In 1987, Tomita was cast in an episode of U.S. television series, Tour of Duty as VC Peasant Woman. The same year, she worked in American television soap opera, Santa Barbara which was a huge success and won various Emmy Awards in different categories.

Tomita has played in many television films, such as To Heal a Nation (1988), Babylon 5: The Gathering (1993), Raven: Return of the Black Dragons (1997), The Last Man on Planet Earth (1999), Walking Shadow (2001), and Jane Doe: Now You See It: Now You Don’t (2005).

Tamlyn Tomita has also appeared in many television shows as a guest actor including The Burning Zone, Eureka, Time Trax, General Hospital, Nash Bridges, and Teen Wolf. Tamlyn Tomita is starring as a leading character of Allegra Aoki since 2017 American medical drama television series, The Good Doctor alongside Freddie Highmore, Nicholas Gonzalez and Antonia Thomas.

Beauty Pageant

In 1984, Tomita won the title of Queen at the Nisei Week Pageant in Los Angeles. The following year, she was also named Miss Nikkei International before becoming an actress.

Tamlyn Tomita was known as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, chosen by ‘People Magazine’ in 1991. She was also honored with the Asian Media Award at the Asian American International Film Festival in 2001.

In 2017, Tomita won the Jury Prize under the ‘Best Actress’ at the ‘FantaSci Film Festival’ for her role in the short film Real Artists. The same year, she also won a Southern Shorts Award for the same role.

Net Worth and Height

As of 2018, Tamlyn Tomita has an estimated net worth of more than $3 million, as per some online sources.

Tomita’s most notable work is an American martial art drama film, 'The Karate Kid Part II,’ was a huge success earning $115.1 million at the box office.

Tomita has given many hits to his audiences, and some of his highest grossing movies are listed below;

Movie	Budget	Box office	IMDB
Come See the Paradise	$15 million	$947,306	6.7
Living Out Loud	$20 million	$15,610,299	6.6
The Joy Luck Club	$10.5 million	$32,901,136	7.6
Four Rooms	$4 million	$4,257,354	6.7
The Day After Tomorrow	$125 million	$544.3 million	6.4
The Eye	$12 million	$56,964,642	5.4
Tekken	$30 million	$967,369	4.8
Picture Bride	-	$1,238,905	6.7
Touch	-	$387,069	5.7
Robot Stories	-	$131,451	5.8

She stands at a height of 1.57 m (5' 2"). 

Personal life

Tamlyn Tomita is possibly single. Previously, she dated American actor, Greg Watanabe, who played Isaac on the MyNetworkTV serial Watch Over Me. The alleged couple who worked together in a 2006 independent film, Only the Brave maintains a low profile relationship. 

Tomita is very close to her mother and is often seen spending quality times and vacationing together. 

Here is a video of Tamlyn Tomita revealing her Parents' Love Story!!