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