Ken Watanabe
October 21, 1959 (65 years old) in Koide, Niigata, Japan
Ken Watanabe (born October 21, 1959) is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Among other awards, he has won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles in director Christopher Nolan's Hollywood blockbusters Batman Begins and Inception.
Known For
Credits
- 2024 · All Lives as
- 2024 · Kensuke's Kingdom as Kensuke (voice)
- 2023 · True Love: Making The Creator as Self
- 2023 · The Creator as Harun
- 2022 · Tokyo Vice as Hiroto Katagiri
- 2020 · Toubousha as
- 2020 · 劇場の灯を消すな!PARCO劇場編 as
- 2020 · Fukushima 50 as Masao Yoshida
- 2019 · Godzilla: King of the Monsters as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
- 2019 · Pokémon Detective Pikachu as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
- 2019 · An Artist of the Floating World as Ono Masuji
- 2018 · The King and I as The King of Siam
- 2018 · Bel Canto as Katsumi Hosokawa
- 2018 · Isle of Dogs as Head Surgeon (voice)
- 2018 · 7 Guardians of the Tomb as Father
- 2018 · Segodon as Shimazu Nariakira
- 2017 · NHK WORLD PRIME as Self - Presenter
- 2017 · Transformers: The Last Knight as Drift (voice)
- 2017 · Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween as Restaurant Patron
- 2017 · The Memories of Happiness as Taro Miura
- 2016 · 五年目のひとり as 키자키 슈지
- 2016 · Rage as Yohei Maki
- 2016 · The Sea of Trees as Takumi Nakamura
- 2014 · Evolution Within Extinction as Self
- 2014 · Snow Jack as Reiji Kurata
- 2014 · Back of Father as Takamura Kouji
- 2014 · Transformers: Age of Extinction as Drift (voice)
- 2014 · Godzilla as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
- 2013 · Unforgiven as Jubee Kamata
- 2012 · Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home as Junichiro Kawaguchi
- 2011 · Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo as Regular
- 2011 · Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera - as
- 2010 · A School Behind Bars as
- 2010 · Inception as Saito
- 2010 · Shanghai as Tanaka
- 2009 · Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant as Mr. Tall
- 2009 · The Unbroken as Hajime Onchi
- 2007 · Earth as Narrator (voice)
- 2006 · Letters from Iwo Jima as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
- 2006 · Memories of Tomorrow as Masayuki Saeki
- 2005 · Memoirs of a Geisha as Chairman
- 2005 · Batman Begins as Ra's al Ghul
- 2005 · Year One in the North as Komatsubara Hideaki
- 2004 · Vessel of Sand as Shuichiro Imanishi
- 2003 · 川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語 as
- 2003 · The Last Samurai as Moritsugu Katsumoto
- 2003 · Another Battle/Conspiracy as Fujimaki Hiroaki
- 2003 · 藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」 as
- 2003 · T.R.Y. as Masanobu Azuma
- 2002 · Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko as
- 2002 · 横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS) as
- 2002 · 強行犯捜査第七係 as
- 2002 · Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS as Okubo
- 2001 · Drowning Fish as Miyota
- 2001 · Hojo Tokimune as Hojo Tokiyori
- 2000 · The Whispered City as Ishida
- 2000 · Ikebukuro West Gate Park as Yokoyama
- 2000 · Space Travelers as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
- 1998 · Shimei Tehai as
- 1998 · Bonds as Detective Sako Akio
- 1997 · Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald as Raita Onuki
- 1995 · Gokenin Zankuro as Zankuro Matsudaira
- 1993 · Baian the Assassin: Showdown as Dr. Baian
- 1993 · The Fire Still Burns as Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
- 1993 · Kagi-shi as
- 1993 · Hanzo, the Razor as
- 1992 · Chronicle of the Town Magistrate as Mochizuki Koheita
- 1992 · Waga Machi as
- 1992 · Izakaya Chōji as
- 1992 · Oda Nobunaga as
- 1992 · Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi as Kojirō
- 1991 · Baian the Assassin as Fujieda Baian
- 1991 · A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era as Ryoma Sakamoto
- 1990 · Baian the Assassin as Dr. Baian
- 1990 · Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen as
- 1989 · Oda Nobunaga as
- 1987 · Masamune Shogun as 伊達政宗
- 1987 · Commando Invasion as
- 1986 · The Sea and Poison as Toda
- 1986 · Hanekonma as Genzo Onodera
- 1986 · The Making of "Tampopo" as Self
- 1985 · Tampopo as Gun
- 1985 · Kekkon Annai Mystery as
- 1984 · MacArthur's Children as Tetsuo Nakai
- 1980 · Bruce's Fists Of Vengeance as Samurai Master
- Future · 第三の時効 as