Ken Watanabe
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1959-10-21 (65 years old)
Place of Birth
Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Ken Watanabe
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
Acting
(2025)
Kokuho
as Hanjiro
(2025)
(2024)
Kensuke's Kingdom
as Kensuke (voice)
(2024)
(2023)
The Creator
as Harun
(2023)
(2020)
Fukushima 50
as Masao Yoshida
(2020)
(2019)
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
(2018)
Isle of Dogs
as Head Surgeon (voice)
(2018)
7 Guardians of the Tomb
as Father
(2018)
Bel Canto
as Katsumi Hosokawa
(2018)
The King and I
as The King of Siam
(2017)
Transformers: The Last Knight
as Drift (voice)
(2017)
The Memories of Happiness
as Taro Miura
(2017)
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
as Restaurant Patron
(2016)
The Sea of Trees
as Takumi Nakamura
(2016)
Rage
as Yohei Maki
(2014)
Transformers: Age of Extinction
as Drift (voice)
(2014)
Godzilla
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
(2014)
Evolution Within Extinction
as Self
(2014)
Snow Jack
as Reiji Kurata
(2013)
Unforgiven
as Jubee Kamata
(2012)
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
as Junichiro Kawaguchi
(2011)
(2010)
Inception
as Saito
(2010)
Shanghai
as Tanaka
(2010)
(2009)
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
as Mr. Tall
(2009)
The Unbroken
as Hajime Onchi
(2007)
Earth
as Narrator (voice)
(2006)
Letters from Iwo Jima
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
(2006)
Memories of Tomorrow
as Masayuki Saeki
(2005)
Batman Begins
as Ra's al Ghul
(2005)
Memoirs of a Geisha
as Chairman
(2005)
Year One in the North
as Komatsubara Hideaki
(2003)
The Last Samurai
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
(2003)
T.R.Y.
as Masanobu Azuma
(2003)
Another Battle/Conspiracy
as Fujimaki Hiroaki
(2002)
(2001)
Drowning Fish
as Miyota
(2000)
Space Travelers
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
(2000)
The Whispered City
as Ishida
(1998)
Bonds
as Detective Sako Akio
(1997)
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
as Raita Onuki
(1993)
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
as Dr. Baian
(1993)
(1992)
(1992)
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
as Mochizuki Koheita
(1992)
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
as Kojirō
(1991)
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
as Ryoma Sakamoto
(1990)
Baian the Assassin
as Dr. Baian
(1987)
(1986)
The Sea and Poison
as Toda
(1986)
The Making of "Tampopo"
as Self
(1985)
Tampopo
as Gun
(1985)
(1984)
MacArthur's Children
as Tetsuo Nakai
(1980)
Bruce's Fists Of Vengeance
as Samurai Master
Crew
(1989)
Harimao
Producer