Takayo Fischer

Fischer is the youngest of four daughters of Japanese immigrants Chukuro, a farm laborer, and Kinko Tsubouchi.^[1] During World War II, at age 10, she and her family were forcibly removed from the West Coast following the signing of Executive Order 9066. They spent time in the Fresno Assembly Center before being relocated to the Jerome and Rohwer incarceration camps.^[2]

After their release, the Tsubouchi family went to Chicago, Illinois, where, as a young adult, Tsubouchi won the crown of "Miss Nisei Queen." She graduated from Hyde Park High School in Chicago in 1950 and attended Rollins College from 1951 to 1953, where she was a cheerleader and member of Phi Beta, a performing arts fraternity.^[3] She resides in Los Angeles.

In 1980, she married Sy Fischer, an entertainment executive and Hanna-Barbera agent.

Fischer appeared in the stage production of The World of Suzie Wong in New York in 1958. She won a Drama-Logue Award for ensemble performance for Tea at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. She has also appeared in many productions with East West Players in Los Angeles, including Into The Woods. Fischer was an honoree at East West Players' 2019 gala for her work in raising "the visibility of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community through [her] craft."^[4] She toured the U.S. and Europe in The Peony Pavilion in 1997.

Fischer has appeared in many big-budget films, including Moneyball, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) as Mistress Ching, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) as Mrs. Chu, Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and War of the Worlds (2005). She has also worked on many independent Asian American films including Americanese (2009), Only the Brave (2005), Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story (2004) and Strawberry Fields (1997).

Fischer has had numerous guest-starring roles on network television including FX's It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Walden Media's The Baby-Sitter's Club. She is sometimes credited as Takayo Doran.

Fischer has also done voices in several animated series. Some of her well-known roles include Mister T, Battle of the Planets, Rubik the Amazing Cube, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Saturday Supercade, The Flintstone Kids, Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, The Karate Kid, Capitol Critters, The Centurions, The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show, Super Friends, Thundarr the Barbarian, Rambo, Wildfire, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, The Wild Thornberrys, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Justice League.

She also reprised her role as Mistress Ching in the video game version of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

• Takayo Fischer at IMDb
• "Densho interview: Takayo Tsubouchi Fischer". 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
• Densho Encyclopedia article on Fischer