Ken Watanabe

About

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

InceptionMovie • 2010Alice in BorderlandSeries • 2020Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari TokubetsuhenSeries • 1990Batman BeginsMovie • 2005Tokyo ViceSeries • 2022The Last SamuraiMovie • 2003Godzilla: King of the MonstersMovie • 2019The CreatorMovie • 2023Isle of DogsMovie • 2018Transformers: Age of ExtinctionMovie • 2014Transformers: The Last KnightMovie • 2017GodzillaMovie • 2014SegodonSeries • 2018Pokémon Detective PikachuMovie • 2019HanekonmaSeries • 1986Masamune ShogunSeries • 1987Letters from Iwo JimaMovie • 2006UnboundSeries • 2025Back of FatherSeries • 2014Memoirs of a GeishaMovie • 2005Ikebukuro West Gate ParkSeries • 2000The Sea of TreesMovie • 2016Kensuke's KingdomMovie • 2024KokuhoMovie • 2025