Ken Watanabe
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- October 21, 1959
- Birthplace
- 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.
Filmography
Yamazaki Riverside - Over an Actor's Shoulder - 2026
as Self
Samurai Vengeance 2026
as Kinji Shinoda
The Final Piece 2025
as Shigeyoshi Toumyo
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER 2025
Actor
Kokuho 2025
as Hanjiro Hanai
All Lives 2024
Actor
Kensuke's Kingdom 2024
as Kensuke (voice)
True Love: Making The Creator 2023
as Self
The Creator 2023
as Harun
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編 2020
Actor
Fukushima 50 2020
as Masao Yoshida
Godzilla: King of the Monsters 2019
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu 2019
as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
An Artist of the Floating World 2019
as Ono Masuji
The King and I 2018
as The King of Siam
Bel Canto 2018
as Katsumi Hosokawa
Isle of Dogs 2018
as Head Surgeon (voice)
7 Guardians of the Tomb 2018
as Father
Transformers: The Last Knight 2017
as Drift (voice)
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween 2017
as Restaurant Patron
The Memories of Happiness 2017
as Taro Miura
Rage 2016
as Yohei Maki
The Sea of Trees 2016
as Takumi Nakamura
Evolution Within Extinction 2014
as Self
Snow Jack 2014
as Reiji Kurata
Transformers: Age of Extinction 2014
as Drift (voice)
Godzilla 2014
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Unforgiven 2013
as Jubee Kamata
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home 2012
as Junichiro Kawaguchi, Production Manager
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera - 2011
Actor
A School Behind Bars 2010
Actor
Inception 2010
as Saito
Shanghai 2010
as Tanaka
The Unbroken 2009
as Hajime Onchi
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant 2009
as Mr. Tall
Earth 2007
as Narrator (voice)
星ひとつの夜 2007
as Nonoyama Hiroji
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima' 2007
as Self
Letters from Iwo Jima 2006
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memories of Tomorrow 2006
as Masayuki Saeki, Executive Producer
Memoirs of a Geisha 2005
as Chairman
Batman Begins 2005
as Ra's al Ghul
Ashes and Snow 2005
as Japanese Narrator (voice)
Year One in the North 2005
as Komatsubara Hideaki
The Last Samurai 2003
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
第三の時効 2003
Actor
Another Battle/Conspiracy 2003
as Fujimaki Hiroaki
T.R.Y. 2003
as Masanobu Azuma
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS 2002
as Okubo
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji 2001
Actor
Drowning Fish 2001
as Miyota
- Proof of the Man 2001
Proof of the Man 2001 2001
as Munesue Koichiro
The Whispered City 2000
as Ishida
Space Travelers 2000
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Bonds 1998
as Detective Sako Akio
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald 1997
as Raita Onuki
Baian the Assassin: Showdown 1993
as Dr. Baian
Hanzo, the Razor 1993
Actor
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate 1992
as Mochizuki Koheita
Oda Nobunaga 1992
Actor
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi 1992
as Kojirō
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era 1991
as Ryoma Sakamoto
Takeda Shingen 1991
as Narrator
Baian the Assassin 1990
as Dr. Baian
Harimao 1989
Producer
Commando Invasion 1987
Actor
The Sea and Poison 1986
as Toda
The Making of "Tampopo" 1986
as Self
Tampopo 1985
as Gun
Kekkon Annai Mystery 1985
Actor
MacArthur's Children 1984
as Tetsuo Nakai
Credits from TMDB.