Mortal Kombat (film) - Cast

Cast

• Robin Shou as Liu Kang, a former Shaolin monk. He enters the tournament to avenge his brother's death. Among those who auditioned for the role of Liu Kang were Jason Scott Lee, Russell Wong, Dustin Nguyen and Phillip Rhee.
• Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage (doubled by Brad Martin and J.J. Perry), a Hollywood superstar that enters the tournament to prove to the world that his skills are for real. Jean-Claude Van Damme turned down the role of Johnny Cage to star on Street Fighter. Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Gary Daniels were also considered for the role. Brandon Lee was originally cast, but died in a accident while filming The Crow. Linden Ashby trained in karate and taekwondo especially for this film. Despite the intensity of the fight scenes coupled with the actors performing most of their own stunts, on-set injuries were surprisingly minimal; the only notable occurrence was a mildly bruised kidney suffered by Ashby while shooting Johnny Cage's fight scene with Scorpion.
• Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade, an agent of the law in hot pursuit of the criminal that killed her partner. Cameron Diaz was originally set to play Sonya, but she broke her wrist during a martial arts training prior to shooting and was replaced by Bridgette Wilson, who was jokingly nicknamed "RoboBabe" during production by director Paul W. S. Anderson. Wilson performed all her own stunts, including fight scenes.
• Christopher Lambert as Raiden, god of thunder and protector of Earthrealm who guides the warriors on their journey.
• Trevor Goddard as Kano, a mercenary that joined forces with Shang Tsung.
• Talisa Soto as Princess Kitana (doubled by Dana Hee), the stepdaughter of the Emperor who decides to help the Earth warriors.
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, a powerful and greedy sorcerer. Tagawa was the filmmakers' first and only choice for the role of Shang Tsung. He came to the audition in a costume, and read his lines while standing on a chair. He had previously appeared alongside Talisa Soto in Licence To Kill.
• François Petit as Sub-Zero (doubled by Mark Caso), one of Shang Tsung's warriors. As his name implies, he possessed the ability to freeze. The rivalry between Sub-Zero and Scorpion is only quickly mentioned by Shang Tsung at the beginning of the movie.
• Chris Casamassa as Scorpion (doubled by Mitchell Gaylord and Jeff Imada), one of Shang Tsung's warriors. His trademark spear from the games was changed to a snake-like harpoon that shot from a slit in his palm. The character was voiced by Ed Boon, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat games. Chris Casamassa was originally hired as a background ninja/stuntman, but during his audition demo he impressed the producers so much that they gave him the part of Scorpion.
• Keith H. Cooke as Reptile, a creature who is serving Shang Tsung. Reptile's lizard form was rendered with the use of computer-generated imagery, while the character's human form is portrayed by Keith Cooke. Reptile's vocal effects are provided by Frank Welker.
• Kevin Michael Richardson voices Goro, the undefeated Mortal Kombat champion. His vocal effects are provided by Frank Welker.
• Gregory McKinney as Jax, Sonya's partner at the beginning of the movie.
• Frank Welker voices Shao Kahn, the Emperor of Outworld. Welker also voiced Reptile and Goro.

Steven Ho played Chan Kang, Liu Kang's younger brother who is killed by Shang Tsung. Peter Jason appears as Master Boyd. Other martial artists to appear in a credited on screen role are Kenneth Edwards and Hakim Alston. Sandy Helberg is briefly seen in the beginning of the film as the director of Johnny Cage's latest movie. Originally, this part was to be a cameo appearance by Steven Spielberg, but scheduling conflicts forced him to back out. The "director" character in this scene still resembles Spielberg.