Ken Watanabe
Acting • Born 1959-10-21
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.
Filmography
100 credits
Batman Begins
Movie • 2005
Ra's al Ghul
Letters from Iwo Jima
Movie • 2006
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
The Last Samurai
Movie • 2003
Moritsugu Katsumoto
Tampopo
Movie • 1985
Gun
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Movie • 2009
Mr. Tall
Inception
Movie • 2010
Saito
Shanghai
Movie • 2010
Tanaka
T.R.Y.
Movie • 2003
Masanobu Azuma
Space Travelers
Movie • 2000
Sakamaki ("Crusher")
第三の時効
Movie • 2003
The Creator
Movie • 2023
Harun
Unforgiven
Movie • 2013
Jubee Kamata
Godzilla
Movie • 2014
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Memories of Tomorrow
Movie • 2006
Masayuki Saeki
The Making of "Tampopo"
Movie • 1986
Self
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
Movie • 2020
The Unbroken
Movie • 2009
Hajime Onchi
A School Behind Bars
Movie • 2010
Year One in the North
Movie • 2005
Komatsubara Hideaki
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
Movie • 2012
Junichiro Kawaguchi
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
Movie • 2002
Okubo
Earth
Movie • 2007
Narrator (voice)
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Movie • 2014
Drift (voice)
True Love: Making The Creator
Movie • 2023
Self
The Whispered City
Movie • 2000
Ishida
Drowning Fish
Movie • 2001
Miyota
The Sea and Poison
Movie • 1986
Toda
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
Movie • 2017
Restaurant Patron
MacArthur's Children
Movie • 1984
Tetsuo Nakai
Evolution Within Extinction
Movie • 2014
Self
Hanzo, the Razor
Movie • 1993
All Lives
Movie • 2024
Transformers: The Last Knight
Movie • 2017
Drift (voice)
Snow Jack
Movie • 2014
Reiji Kurata
Rage
Movie • 2016
Yohei Maki
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
Movie • 1992
Kojirō
Kekkon Annai Mystery
Movie • 1985
The Sea of Trees
Movie • 2016
Takumi Nakamura
Commando Invasion
Movie • 1987
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
Movie • 2011
Oda Nobunaga
Movie • 1992
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
Movie • 1992
Mochizuki Koheita
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Movie • 2019
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Movie • 2019
Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Isle of Dogs
Movie • 2018
Head Surgeon (voice)
Bel Canto
Movie • 2018
Katsumi Hosokawa
Fukushima 50
Movie • 2020
Masao Yoshida
The Memories of Happiness
Movie • 2017
Taro Miura
The King and I
Movie • 2018
The King of Siam
Kensuke's Kingdom
Movie • 2024
Kensuke (voice)
Bonds
Movie • 1998
Detective Sako Akio
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
Movie • 1997
Raita Onuki
Baian the Assassin
Movie • 1990
Dr. Baian
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
Movie • 1993
Dr. Baian
Memoirs of a Geisha
Movie • 2005
Le président
7 Guardians of the Tomb
Movie • 2018
Father
Another Battle/Conspiracy
Movie • 2003
Fujimaki Hiroaki
An Artist of the Floating World
Movie • 2019
Ono Masuji
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
Movie • 1991
Ryoma Sakamoto
Kokuho
Movie • 2025
Hanjiro Hanai
The Final Piece
Movie • 2025
Shigeyoshi Toumyo
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
Movie • 2007
Self
Samurai Vengeance
Movie • 2026
Kinji Shinoda
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
Movie • 2025
星ひとつの夜
Movie • 2007
Nonoyama Hiroji
Takeda Shingen
Movie • 1991
Narrator
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
TV • 2000
Yokoyama
Kagi-shi
TV • 1993
Oda Nobunaga
TV • 1989
Vessel of Sand
TV • 2004
Shuichiro Imanishi
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
TV • 1990
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
TV • 2003
NHK WORLD PRIME
TV • 2017
Self - Presenter
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
TV • 2002
Masamune Shogun
TV • 1987
伊達政宗
Segodon
TV • 2018
Shimazu Nariakira
強行犯捜査第七係
TV • 2002
Izakaya Chōji
TV • 1992
Gokenin Zankuro
TV • 1995
Zankuro Matsudaira
Waga Machi
TV • 1992
Tokyo Vice
TV • 2022
Hiroto Katagiri
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
TV • 2002
Baian the Assassin
TV • 1991
Fujieda Baian
五年目のひとり
TV • 2016
키자키 슈지
Shimei Tehai
TV • 1998
Back of Father
TV • 2014
Takamura Kouji
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
TV • 2003
Hanekonma
TV • 1986
Genzo Onodera
Hojo Tokimune
TV • 2001
Hojo Tokiyori
The Fire Still Burns
TV • 1993
Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
Toubousha
TV • 2020
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
TV • 2011
Regular
Musuko no Gokikan
TV • 1990
Unbound
TV • 2025
Tamema Okitsugu
TRUE COLORS
TV • 2025
Taichirou Tsujimura
A Tale of Two Truncheons
TV • 1984
Alice in Borderland
TV • 2020
Old Gentleman
刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
TV • 2009
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
TV • 2026
東雲朔太郎
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
TV • 2015
東雲朔太郎