Ken Watanabe
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Oct 21, 1959 (age 66)
- Place of birth
- Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
- Credits
- 104
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
2010Movie
Saito
Batman Begins
2005Movie
Ra's al Ghul
Godzilla
2014Movie
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014Movie
Drift (voice)
The Last Samurai
2003Movie
Moritsugu Katsumoto
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019Movie
Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Filmography
Yamazaki Riverside - Over an Actor's Shoulder -
2026Movie
Self
Samurai Vengeance
2026Movie
Kinji Shinoda
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
2026TV
東雲朔太郎
The Final Piece
2025Movie
Shigeyoshi Toumyo
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025Movie
Kokuho
2025Movie
Hanjiro Hanai
Unbound
2025TV
Tamema Okitsugu
TRUE COLORS
2025TV
Taichirou Tsujimura
All Lives
2024Movie
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024Movie
Kensuke (voice)
True Love: Making The Creator
2023Movie
Self
The Creator
2023Movie
Harun
Tokyo Vice
2022TV
Hiroto Katagiri
Alice in Borderland
2020TV
Old Gentleman
Toubousha
2020TV
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020Movie
Fukushima 50
2020Movie
Masao Yoshida
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019Movie
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019Movie
Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
An Artist of the Floating World
2019Movie
Ono Masuji
The King and I
2018Movie
The King of Siam
Bel Canto
2018Movie
Katsumi Hosokawa
Isle of Dogs
2018Movie
Head Surgeon (voice)
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018Movie
Father
Segodon
2018TV
Shimazu Nariakira
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017TV
Self - Presenter
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017Movie
Drift (voice)
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017Movie
Restaurant Patron
The Memories of Happiness
2017Movie
Taro Miura
五年目のひとり
2016TV
키자키 슈지
Rage
2016Movie
Yohei Maki
The Sea of Trees
2016Movie
Takumi Nakamura
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015TV
東雲朔太郎
Evolution Within Extinction
2014Movie
Self
Snow Jack
2014Movie
Reiji Kurata
Back of Father
2014TV
Takamura Kouji
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014Movie
Drift (voice)
Godzilla
2014Movie
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Unforgiven
2013Movie
Jubee Kamata
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012Movie
Junichiro Kawaguchi
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011TV
Regular
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011Movie
A School Behind Bars
2010Movie
Inception
2010Movie
Saito
Shanghai
2010Movie
Tanaka
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009Movie
Mr. Tall
The Unbroken
2009Movie
Hajime Onchi
刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009TV
Earth
2007Movie
Narrator (voice)
星ひとつの夜
2007Movie
Nonoyama Hiroji
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
2007Movie
Self
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006Movie
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memories of Tomorrow
2006Movie
Masayuki Saeki
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005Movie
Chairman
Batman Begins
2005Movie
Ra's al Ghul
Ashes and Snow
2005Movie
Japanese Narrator (voice)
Year One in the North
2005Movie
Komatsubara Hideaki
Vessel of Sand
2004TV
Shuichiro Imanishi
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003TV
The Last Samurai
2003Movie
Moritsugu Katsumoto
第三の時効
2003Movie
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003Movie
Fujimaki Hiroaki
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003TV
T.R.Y.
2003Movie
Masanobu Azuma
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002TV
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002TV
強行犯捜査第七係
2002TV
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002Movie
Okubo
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001Movie
Drowning Fish
2001Movie
Miyota
Proof of the Man 2001
2001Movie
Munesue Koichiro
Hojo Tokimune
2001TV
Hojo Tokiyori
The Whispered City
2000Movie
Ishida
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000TV
Yokoyama
Space Travelers
2000Movie
Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Shimei Tehai
1998TV
Bonds
1998Movie
Detective Sako Akio
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997Movie
Raita Onuki
Gokenin Zankuro
1995TV
Zankuro Matsudaira
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993Movie
Dr. Baian
The Fire Still Burns
1993TV
Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
Kagi-shi
1993TV
Hanzo, the Razor
1993Movie
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992Movie
Mochizuki Koheita
Waga Machi
1992TV
Izakaya Chōji
1992TV
Oda Nobunaga
1992Movie
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992Movie
Kojirō
Baian the Assassin
1991TV
Fujieda Baian
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991Movie
Ryoma Sakamoto
Takeda Shingen
1991Movie
Narrator
Baian the Assassin
1990Movie
Dr. Baian
Musuko no Gokikan
1990TV
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990TV
Oda Nobunaga
1989TV
Masamune Shogun
1987TV
伊達政宗
Commando Invasion
1987Movie
The Sea and Poison
1986Movie
Toda
Hanekonma
1986TV
Genzo Onodera
The Making of "Tampopo"
1986Movie
Self
Tampopo
1985Movie
Gun
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985Movie
MacArthur's Children
1984Movie
Tetsuo Nakai
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984TV