Person
Ken Watanabe
Acting · 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.
Filmography (16)
| Year | Film | As |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kokuho | Hanjiro Hanai |
| 2023 | The Creator | Harun |
| 2020 | Fukushima 50 | Masao Yoshida |
| 2019 | Godzilla: King of the Monsters | Dr. Ishiro Serizawa |
| 2019 | Pokémon Detective Pikachu | Lieutenant Hide Yoshida |
| 2018 | Isle of Dogs | Head Surgeon (voice) |
| 2017 | Transformers: The Last Knight | Drift (voice) |
| 2016 | The Sea of Trees | Takumi Nakamura |
| 2014 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | Drift (voice) |
| 2014 | Godzilla | Dr. Ishiro Serizawa |
| 2010 | Inception | Saito |
| 2009 | Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant | Mr. Tall |
| 2006 | Letters from Iwo Jima | General Tadamichi Kuribayashi |
| 2005 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Chairman |
| 2005 | Batman Begins | Ra's al Ghul |
| 2003 | The Last Samurai | Moritsugu Katsumoto |