Patti Yasutake, best known for her roles in Beef and Star Trek: The Next Generation, passed away peacefully on August 5 surrounded by friends and family after a long battle with cancer, her manager and friend Kyle Fritz told Deadline. She was 70.
Los Angeles native Yasutake, born and raised in Gardena and Inglewood, graduated from UCLA with honors in theater. She started her career at East West Players, where she worked with the company’s co-founder, Japanese-American acting icon Mako, for six years onstage, on staff and on the board, performing in over a dozen shows.
Yasutake made her major feature debut in Ron Howard’s 1986 comedy Gung Go as Umeki, a relocated Japanese wife earnestly trying to Americanize. She reprised her character in the follow-up ABC comedy series spawned by the movie.
For her next movie, the 1988 The Wash, Yasutake received an Independent Spirit Award Supporting Actress nomination. Her resume also includes the films Drop Dead Gorgeous, Blind Spot and Road to Galveston and a slew of guest-starring appearances on such series as The Closer, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, Flash Forward, The Unit and Cold Case.
Yasutake’s last TV role before her death was one of the highest-profiled ones in her career — she was a series regular on Netflix’s acclaimed limited series Beef, playing George’s mother Fumi Nakai. She also played Nurse Alyssa Ogawa on Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role she later reprised in Star Trek Generations.
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Spanning three decades, Yasutake’s theater work included stints at New Mexico Repertory Theatre, American Southwest Theatre, Los Angeles Theatre Center, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory Theatre and The Westwood Playhouse (now The Geffen Playhouse).
As a theater director, she developed and staged world premieres at East West Players (Doughball), the Richmond Shepherd Theater (The Single Man) and Ensemble Studio Theater (Father, I Must Have Rice), along with a revival of Tea at the Odyssey Theater.
“Patti was my first client when I began over 30 years ago,” Fritz said. “We enjoyed every day we got to work together, and I will miss her spirit talent and tenacity but most of all her friendship.”
Yasutake was preceded in death by her parents, Michael and Jean Yasutake; and her sister, business executive Irene Hirano Inouye. She is survived by siblings Linda Hayashi and Steven Yasutake; a large extended family of nephews and nieces; and a family of friends and colleagues including Fritz and Jonathan Del Arco.
A memorial will be held at East West Players. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a contribution be made to the theater company.