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
| Birth Location | Koide, Niigata, Japan |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959-10-21 |
Movies
2024
Kensuke's Kingdom
as Kensuke
2024
True Love: Making 'The Creator'
as Self
2023
The Creator
as Harun
2023
2020
Fukushima 50
as Masao Yoshida
2020
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
2019
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
Transformers: The Last Knight
as Drift (voice)
2017
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
as Restaurant Patron
2017
The Memories of Happiness
as Taro Miura
2017
Rage
as Yohei Maki
2016
The Sea of Trees
as Takumi Nakamura
2016
Evolution Within Extinction
as Self
2014
Snow Jack
as Reiji Kurata
2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction
as Drift (voice)
2014
Godzilla
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2014
Unforgiven
as Jubee Kamata
2013
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
as Junichiro Kawaguchi
2012
2010
Inception
as Saito
2010
Shanghai
as Tanaka
2010
The Unbroken
as Hajime Onchi
2009
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
as Mr. Tall
2009
Earth
as Narrator
2007
Letters from Iwo Jima
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
2006
Memories of Tomorrow
as Masayuki Saeki
2006
Memoirs of a Geisha
as Chairman
2005
Batman Begins
as Decoy Ra's al Ghul
2005
Year One in the North
as Komatsubara Hideaki
2005
The Last Samurai
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
2003
Another Battle/Conspiracy
as Fujimaki Hiroaki
2003
T.R.Y.
as Masanobu Azuma
2003
2002
Drowning Fish
as Miyota
2001
The Whispered City
as Ishida
2000
Space Travelers
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
2000
Bonds
as Detective Sako Akio
1998
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
as Raita Onuki
1997
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
as Dr. Baian
1993
1993
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
as Mochizuki Koheita
1992
1992
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
as Kojirō
1992
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
as Ryoma Sakamoto
1991
Baian the Assassin
as Dr. Baian
1990
1987
The Sea and Poison
as Toda
1986
The Making of "Tampopo"
as Self
1986
Tampopo
as Gun
1985
1985
MacArthur's Children
as Tetsuo Nakai
1984
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