Biography

Karl Yune portrays Maseo Yamashiro (mentor and friend to Oliver Queen) on the hit show Arrow. Karl's character Maseo is a DC Comics character who has had a strong presence throughout season 3 in the flashback story line, as well as in the present day story as Maseo's alter ego Sarab (2nd in command of the League of Assassins and ally to DC character Ras Al Ghul). Karl was born and raised in Washington D.C. and was accepted to Columbia University as a business major. His study and love of Shakespeare during a literature course influenced him to switch his major to theater at the University's School of the Arts. While at Columbia, Yune won the role of Romeo in an off Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet and was later signed to a talent manager. Karl continued to work as a theater actor in New York City and won critical and rave reviews for his performance as Gloucester in a contemporary rendition of Shakespeare's Richard the III. While casting The Last Samurai, director Edward Zwick was impressed with Yune's audition tape and Karl went to Los Angeles for the first time to meet with the famed director. Zwick later informed Karl that the studio was to cast the film out of Japan, but encouraged Karl to move to Los Angeles as he saw promise in the young actor's talent. Inspired, Karl moved to Los Angeles, only to learn that he was offered a five year contract back in New York, on the popular daytime TV drama All My Children. Yune passed on the offer and soon booked his first lead role in the cult film Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. The following year Karl was picked by producer Steven Spielberg to play the memorable role of Koichi, the secret lover to Li Gong's Geisha Hatsumomo, in Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the international best selling novel. Karl continued to work in lead and supporting roles in award winning independent, foreign, and Hollywood films. In 2010, Karl was again chosen by producer Steven Spielberg and director Shawn Levy to star as Tak Mashido, the reclusive legend of the robot fighting world in the scifi drama Real Steel. Karl now resides in Los Angeles, California.
- IMDb mini biography by: Sourcebios