Ken Watanabe
Acting
Born 1959-10-21 · Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
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 · Movie
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019 · Movie
Batman Begins
2005 · Movie
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014 · Movie
The Last Samurai
2003 · Movie
Godzilla
2014 · Movie
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017 · Movie
The Creator
2023 · Movie
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Movie
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019 · Movie
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · Movie
Kokuho
2025 · Movie
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 · Movie
Tampopo
1985 · Movie
The Final Piece
2025 · Movie
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024 · Movie
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997 · Movie
The Whispered City
2000 · Movie
A School Behind Bars
2010 · Movie
Rage
2016 · Movie
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009 · Movie
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992 · Movie
Unforgiven
2013 · Movie
Earth
2007 · Movie
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002 · Movie
Shanghai
2010 · Movie
Samurai Vengeance
2026 · Movie
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985 · Movie
Evolution Within Extinction
2014 · Movie
Oda Nobunaga
1992 · Movie
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018 · Movie
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991 · Movie
Drowning Fish
2001 · Movie
Fukushima 50
2020 · Movie
The Sea and Poison
1986 · Movie
The Sea of Trees
2016 · Movie
True Love: Making The Creator
2023 · Movie
Memories of Tomorrow
2006 · Movie
The Unbroken
2009 · Movie
Space Travelers
2000 · Movie
T.R.Y.
2003 · Movie
Year One in the North
2005 · Movie
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012 · Movie
All Lives
2024 · Movie
Ashes and Snow
2005 · Movie
The King and I
2018 · Movie
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001 · Movie
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020 · Movie
Bel Canto
2018 · Movie
Bonds
1998 · Movie
Commando Invasion
1987 · Movie
MacArthur's Children
1984 · Movie
An Artist of the Floating World
2019 · Movie
Snow Jack
2014 · Movie
Takeda Shingen
1991 · Movie
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993 · Movie
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003 · Movie
第三の時効
2003 · Movie
Baian the Assassin
1990 · Movie
The Memories of Happiness
2017 · Movie