‘Beef’ actress Patti Yasutake dies aged 70

7 August, 2024

Patti Yasutake

Patti Yasutake, best known for her roles in Beef and Star Trek: The Next Generation, has died aged 70.

The news was shared by her manager, Kyle Fritz, on Tuesday (August 6).

Yasutake died peacefully on August 5 in a Santa Monica hospital surrounded by friends and family after a long illness with cancer, her manager explained. Yasutake had been suffering from a rare form of T-cell lymphoma.

Fritz told Variety: “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.”

Born in Los Angeles on September 6 1953, Yasutake was raised in the areas of Gardena and Inglewood. She later graduated UCLA with an honours degree in theatre.

She began her acting career in 1985 in television, appearing on police drama T. J. Hooker with William Shatner. Yasutake had her major feature debut just one year later in Ron Howard’s 1986 film Gung Go. On this, she appeared as Umeki and it was eventually a role she reprised when it was adapted into a television series between 1986-1987.

She later starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, a role she reprised in the films Star Trek Generations (1994) and Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

Yasutake’s last TV role was on Netflix’s Beef, a critically acclaimed drama which also starred Ali Wong and Steven Yeun. In this, Yasutake played Fumi Nakai.

Film credits included The Wash, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Blind Spot and Road to Galveston, while in TV she had many appearances on shows including: The Closer, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, Flash Forward, The Unit and Cold Case.

She is survived by her siblings Linda Hayashi and Steve Yasutake.

You can see some of the tributes to Yasutake here:

The post ‘Beef’ actress Patti Yasutake dies aged 70 appeared first on NME.