Ken Watanabe
Department: 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.
Known For
Batman Begins
2005
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
The Last Samurai
2003
Tampopo
1985
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009
Inception
2010
Shanghai
2010
T.R.Y.
2003
Space Travelers
2000
第三の時効
2003
The Creator
2023
Unforgiven
2013
Godzilla
2014
Memories of Tomorrow
2006
The Making of "Tampopo"
1986
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
The Unbroken
2009
A School Behind Bars
2010
Year One in the North
2005
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002
Earth
2007
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
True Love: Making The Creator
2023
The Whispered City
2000
Drowning Fish
2001
The Sea and Poison
1986
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017
MacArthur's Children
1984
Evolution Within Extinction
2014
Hanzo, the Razor
1993
All Lives
2024
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
Snow Jack
2014
Rage
2016
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985
The Sea of Trees
2016
Commando Invasion
1987
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011
Oda Nobunaga
1992
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
Isle of Dogs
2018
Bel Canto
2018
Fukushima 50
2020
The Memories of Happiness
2017
The King and I
2018
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024
Bonds
1998
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997
Baian the Assassin
1990
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003
An Artist of the Floating World
2019
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991
Kokuho
2025
The Final Piece
2025
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
2007
Samurai Vengeance
2026
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025
星ひとつの夜
2007
Takeda Shingen
1991
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000
Kagi-shi
1993
Oda Nobunaga
1989
Vessel of Sand
2004
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002
Masamune Shogun
1987
Segodon
2018
強行犯捜査第七係
2002
Izakaya Chōji
1992
Gokenin Zankuro
1995
Waga Machi
1992
Tokyo Vice
2022
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002
Baian the Assassin
1991
五年目のひとり
2016
Shimei Tehai
1998
Back of Father
2014
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003
Hanekonma
1986
Hojo Tokimune
2001
The Fire Still Burns
1993
Toubousha
2020
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011
Musuko no Gokikan
1990
Unbound
2025
TRUE COLORS
2025
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984
Alice in Borderland
2020
刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
2026
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015