Ken Watanabe
Acting
Born: October 21, 1959 (age 66) · Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
Highest Rated
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
Inception
2010
Batman Begins
2005
Godzilla
2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
The Last Samurai
2003
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
Isle of Dogs
2018
The Creator
2023
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
Alice in Borderland
2020
Photos (8)
Movies (65)
Inception
Saito
Batman Begins
Ra's al Ghul
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Drift (voice)
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
The Last Samurai
Moritsugu Katsumoto
Transformers: The Last Knight
Drift (voice)
Godzilla
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Isle of Dogs
Head Surgeon (voice)
The Creator
Harun
Letters from Iwo Jima
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memoirs of a Geisha
Chairman
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Mr. Tall
Kokuho
Hanjiro Hanai
The Sea of Trees
Takumi Nakamura
Shanghai
Tanaka
7 Guardians of the Tomb
Father
The Final Piece
Shigeyoshi Toumyo
Fukushima 50
Masao Yoshida
Tampopo
Gun
Earth
Narrator (voice)
Rage
Yohei Maki
Bel Canto
Katsumi Hosokawa
Kensuke's Kingdom
Kensuke (voice)
Unforgiven
Jubee Kamata
Samurai Vengeance
Kinji Shinoda
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
Raita Onuki
The King and I
The King of Siam
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001
The Unbroken
Hajime Onchi
Ashes and Snow
Japanese Narrator (voice)
Memories of Tomorrow
Masayuki Saeki
Bonds
Detective Sako Akio
Oda Nobunaga
1992
All Lives
2024
Space Travelers
Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Year One in the North
Komatsubara Hideaki
Drowning Fish
Miyota
The Whispered City
Ishida
The Sea and Poison
Toda
Snow Jack
Reiji Kurata
Takeda Shingen
Narrator
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
Okubo
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
Restaurant Patron
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
Ryoma Sakamoto
T.R.Y.
Masanobu Azuma
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
Junichiro Kawaguchi
The Memories of Happiness
Taro Miura
An Artist of the Floating World
Ono Masuji
MacArthur's Children
Tetsuo Nakai
Another Battle/Conspiracy
Fujimaki Hiroaki
Commando Invasion
1987
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
Mochizuki Koheita
Hanzo, the Razor
1993
A School Behind Bars
2010
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
Dr. Baian
Baian the Assassin
Dr. Baian
星ひとつの夜
Nonoyama Hiroji
第三の時効
2003
ツナガルココロ 3 LOVE STORIES
2008
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
Kojirō
TV Shows (28)
Alice in Borderland
Old Gentleman · 1 eps
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
5 eps
Tokyo Vice
Hiroto Katagiri · 18 eps
Segodon
Shimazu Nariakira · 17 eps
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
東雲朔太郎 · 9 eps
Unbound
Tamema Okitsugu · 48 eps
Masamune Shogun
伊達政宗 · 50 eps
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
Yokoyama · 11 eps
Back of Father
Takamura Kouji · 1 eps
TRUE COLORS
Taichirou Tsujimura · 9 eps
Hanekonma
Genzo Onodera · 156 eps
The Fire Still Burns
Fujiwara Tsunekiyo · 35 eps
Gokenin Zankuro
Zankuro Matsudaira · 8 eps
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
東雲朔太郎 · 9 eps
Hojo Tokimune
Hojo Tokiyori · 49 eps
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
4 eps
Toubousha
2 eps
A Tale of Two Truncheons
13 eps
Vessel of Sand
Shuichiro Imanishi · 11 eps
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
6 eps
Waga Machi
10 eps
Baian the Assassin
Fujieda Baian · 5 eps
Kagi-shi
1 eps
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
6 eps
Izakaya Chōji
1 eps
Musuko no Gokikan
2 eps
五年目のひとり
키자키 슈지 · 1 eps
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
Regular · 1 eps
