Ken Watanabe
Biography
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.
Gallery
Known For
Acting History
2026
Revenge in Kobikicho as Kinji Shinoda
2025The Final Piece as Shigeyoshi Toumyo
2025The Cartier Panther
2025Kokuho as Hanjiro Hanai
2025Unbound as Tamema Okitsugu
2025TRUE COLORS as Taichirou Tsujimura
2024All Lives
2024Kensuke's Kingdom as Kensuke (voice)
2023True Love: Making The Creator as Self
2023The Creator as Harun
2022Tokyo Vice as Hiroto Katagiri
2020Alice in Borderland as Old Gentleman
2020Toubousha
2020劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020Fukushima 50 as Masao Yoshida
2019Godzilla: King of the Monsters as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2019Pokémon Detective Pikachu as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
2019An Artist of the Floating World as Ono Masuji
2018The King and I as The King of Siam
2018Bel Canto as Katsumi Hosokawa
2018Isle of Dogs as Head Surgeon (voice)
20187 Guardians of the Tomb as Father
2018Segodon as Shimazu Nariakira
2017NHK WORLD PRIME as Self - Presenter
2017Transformers: The Last Knight as Drift (voice)
2017Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween as Restaurant Patron
2017The Memories of Happiness as Taro Miura
2016五年目のひとり as 키자키 슈지
2016Rage as Yohei Maki
2016The Sea of Trees as Takumi Nakamura
2014Evolution Within Extinction as Self
2014Snow Jack as Reiji Kurata
2014Back of Father as Takamura Kouji
2014Transformers: Age of Extinction as Drift (voice)
2014Godzilla as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2013Unforgiven as Jubee Kamata
2012Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home as Junichiro Kawaguchi
2011Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo as Regular
2011Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2010A School Behind Bars
2010Inception as Saito
2010Shanghai as Tanaka
2009Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant as Mr. Tall
2009The Unbroken as Hajime Onchi
2007Earth as Narrator (voice)
2007星ひとつの夜 as Nonoyama Hiroji
2007Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima' as Self
2006Letters from Iwo Jima as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
2006Memories of Tomorrow as Masayuki Saeki
2005Memoirs of a Geisha as Chairman
2005Batman Begins as Ra's al Ghul
2005Year One in the North as Komatsubara Hideaki
2004Vessel of Sand as Shuichiro Imanishi
2003川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003The Last Samurai as Moritsugu Katsumoto
2003第三の時効
2003Another Battle/Conspiracy as Fujimaki Hiroaki
2003藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003T.R.Y. as Masanobu Azuma
2002Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002強行犯捜査第七係
2002Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS as Okubo
2001Drowning Fish as Miyota
2001Hojo Tokimune as Hojo Tokiyori
2000The Whispered City as Ishida
2000Ikebukuro West Gate Park as Yokoyama
2000Space Travelers as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
1998Shimei Tehai
1998Bonds as Detective Sako Akio
1997Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald as Raita Onuki
1995Gokenin Zankuro as Zankuro Matsudaira
1993Baian the Assassin: Showdown as Dr. Baian
1993The Fire Still Burns as Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
1993Kagi-shi
1993Hanzo, the Razor
1992Chronicle of the Town Magistrate as Mochizuki Koheita
1992Waga Machi
1992Izakaya Chōji
1992Oda Nobunaga
1992Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi as Kojirō
1991Baian the Assassin as Fujieda Baian
1991A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era as Ryoma Sakamoto
1990Baian the Assassin as Dr. Baian
1990Musuko no Gokikan
1990Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1989Oda Nobunaga
1987Masamune Shogun as 伊達政宗
1987Commando Invasion
1986The Sea and Poison as Toda
1986Hanekonma as Genzo Onodera
1986The Making of "Tampopo" as Self
1985Tampopo as Gun
1985Kekkon Annai Mystery
1984MacArthur's Children as Tetsuo Nakai
1984A Tale of Two Truncheons