Ken Watanabe
Known for
Acting
Born
October 21, 1959 (age 66)
Birthplace
Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
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.
Best known work
Inception
2010
Batman Begins
2005
Godzilla
2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
The Last Samurai
2003
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
Isle of Dogs
2018
The Creator
2023Filmography
2026
Samurai Vengeanceas Kinji Shinoda
2026
2025
The Final Pieceas Shigeyoshi Toumyo
2025
2025
Kokuhoas Hanjiro Hanai
2025
2025
2024
2024
Kensuke's Kingdomas Kensuke (voice)
2023
2023
The Creatoras Harun
2022
2020
2020
2020
2020
Fukushima 50as Masao Yoshida
2019
Godzilla: King of the Monstersas Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachuas Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
2019
An Artist of the Floating Worldas Ono Masuji
2018
The King and Ias The King of Siam
2018
Bel Cantoas Katsumi Hosokawa
2018
Isle of Dogsas Head Surgeon (voice)
2018
7 Guardians of the Tombas Father
2018
2017