Acting
Ken Watanabe
JA, EN, FR cinema · 71 credits
Born
21 October 1959 (age 67)
Birthplace
Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
Also known as 渡邊謙 · 渡辺 謙 · کِن واتانابه · ک ِن واتانابه · Kensaku Watanabe · Ken Watanabe
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
Filmography
Samurai Vengeance
as Kinji Shinoda
Kokuho
as Hanjiro Hanai
The Final Piece
as Shigeyoshi Toumyo
Kensuke's Kingdom
as Kensuke (voice)
The Creator
as Harun
Fukushima 50
as Masao Yoshida
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
An Artist of the Floating World
as Ono Masuji
Isle of Dogs
as Head Surgeon (voice)
Bel Canto
as Katsumi Hosokawa
The King and I
as The King of Siam
7 Guardians of the Tomb
as Father
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
as Restaurant Patron
Transformers: The Last Knight
as Drift (voice)
The Memories of Happiness
as Taro Miura
Rage
as Yohei Maki
The Sea of Trees
as Takumi Nakamura
Godzilla
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Transformers: Age of Extinction
as Drift (voice)
Snow Jack
as Reiji Kurata
Unforgiven
as Jubee Kamata
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
as Junichiro Kawaguchi, Production Manager
Inception
as Saito
Shanghai
as Tanaka
The Unbroken
as Hajime Onchi
Earth
as Narrator (voice)
星ひとつの夜
as Nonoyama Hiroji
Letters from Iwo Jima
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memories of Tomorrow
as Masayuki Saeki, Executive Producer
Batman Begins
as Ra's al Ghul
Year One in the North
as Komatsubara Hideaki
Memoirs of a Geisha
as Chairman
Ashes and Snow
as Japanese Narrator (voice)
The Last Samurai
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
T.R.Y.
as Masanobu Azuma
Another Battle/Conspiracy
as Fujimaki Hiroaki
Drowning Fish
as Miyota
人間の証明
2001
Proof of the Man 2001
as Munesue Koichiro
Space Travelers
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
The Whispered City
as Ishida
Bonds
as Detective Sako Akio
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
as Raita Onuki
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
as Dr. Baian
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
as Mochizuki Koheita
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
as Ryoma Sakamoto
Takeda Shingen
as Narrator
Baian the Assassin
as Dr. Baian
Harimao
Producer
Tampopo
as Gun
MacArthur's Children
as Tetsuo Nakai