Ken Watanabe
Acting
Born October 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
Filmography
Kokuho
2025 · Hanjiro Hanai
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024 · Kensuke (voice)
The Creator
2023 · Harun
Fukushima 50
2020 · Masao Yoshida
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019 · Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019 · Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Head Surgeon (voice)
Bel Canto
2018 · Katsumi Hosokawa
The King and I
2018 · The King of Siam
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018 · Father
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017 · Drift (voice)
Rage
2016 · Yohei Maki
The Sea of Trees
2016 · Takumi Nakamura
Godzilla
2014 · Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014 · Drift (voice)
Unforgiven
2013 · Jubee Kamata
Inception
2010 · Saito
Shanghai
2010 · Tanaka
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009 · Mr. Tall
The Unbroken
2009 · Hajime Onchi
Earth
2007 · Narrator (voice)
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 · General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memories of Tomorrow
2006 · Masayuki Saeki
Batman Begins
2005 · Ra's al Ghul
Year One in the North
2005 · Komatsubara Hideaki
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · Le président
Ashes and Snow
2005 · Japanese Narrator (voice)
The Last Samurai
2003 · Moritsugu Katsumoto
Space Travelers
2000 · Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997 · Raita Onuki
The Sea and Poison
1986 · Toda
Tampopo
1985 · Gun
MacArthur's Children
1984 · Tetsuo Nakai