Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa pleaded guilty in Family Court this morning on a misdemeanor charge of harassing his then-girlfriend.

Tagawa, 57, who got his first big break as an actor when he was cast in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" in 1987, was arrested in November at his Diamond Head home.

The court accepted his deferred acceptance of guilty plea, and agreed to his $1,000 donation to the Ala Kuola, a nonprofit agency that helps victims of domestic abuse file temporary restraining orders with Family Court on O'ahu.

As part of the plea agreement, the court agreed to downgrade the misdemeanor charge from abuse of a family member to harassment, a petty misdemeanor.

In addition he must write a letter of apology to his girlfriend at the time.

He asked for and was granted a deferred acceptance of his guilty plea. A deferred guilty plea results in no criminal record if the defendant stays out of trouble with the law over a year and attend a domestic violence intervention program.

Tagawa was born in Tokyo and lived in various cities while growing up. Many remember him from the movie "Mortal Kombat" (1995) as the shape-shifting sorcerer Shang Tsung. More recently he was in the comedy "Balls of Fury."

He also appeared in "Memoirs of a Geisha," "Pearl Harbor" and "Planet of the Apes."