Ken Watanabe
Acting
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.
Movies
Inception
2010
Batman Begins
2005
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
The Last Samurai
2003
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
The Creator
2023
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
Godzilla
2014
Isle of Dogs
2018
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
Kokuho
2025
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
Bel Canto
2018
Tampopo
1985
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997
Rage
2016
TV Shows
Alice in Borderland
2020
Tokyo Vice
2022
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
Unbound
2025
Segodon
2018
Masamune Shogun
1987
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000
Hojo Tokimune
2001
Back of Father
2014
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015
Hanekonma
1986
The Fire Still Burns
1993
Gokenin Zankuro
1995
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
Vessel of Sand
2004
Baian the Assassin
1991
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984
TRUE COLORS
2025