Ken Watanabe
Born Oct 21, 1959 · Uonuma, 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
Samurai Vengeance
2026
Unbound
2025
Kokuho
2025
The Final Piece
2025
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024
All Lives
2024
The Creator
2023
Tokyo Vice
2022
Alice in Borderland
2020
Fukushima 50
2020
Toubousha
2020
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
An Artist of the Floating World
2019
Isle of Dogs
2018
Segodon
2018
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018
Bel Canto
2018
The King and I
2018
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017
The Memories of Happiness
2017
The Sea of Trees
2016
Rage
2016
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
Godzilla
2014
Back of Father
2014
Snow Jack
2014
Unforgiven
2013
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011
Inception
2010
Shanghai
2010
A School Behind Bars
2010
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009
The Unbroken
2009
Earth
2007
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
Memories of Tomorrow
2006
Batman Begins
2005
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
Ashes and Snow
2005
Year One in the North
2005
The Last Samurai
2003
T.R.Y.
2003
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002
Hojo Tokimune
2001
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001
Drowning Fish
2001
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000
Space Travelers
2000
The Whispered City
2000
Bonds
1998
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997
Gokenin Zankuro
1995
The Fire Still Burns
1993
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993
Hanzo, the Razor
1993
Oda Nobunaga
1992
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992
Baian the Assassin
1991
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991
Takeda Shingen
1991
Masamune Shogun
1987
Commando Invasion
1987
The Sea and Poison
1986
Tampopo
1985
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984
MacArthur's Children
1984