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.
Filmography
Samurai Vengeance
Feb 27, 2026
The Final Piece
Oct 31, 2025
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
Sep 18, 2025
Kokuho
Jun 6, 2025
All Lives
May 6, 2024
Kensuke's Kingdom
Feb 7, 2024
True Love: Making The Creator
Nov 14, 2023
The Creator
Sep 27, 2023
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
Oct 31, 2020
Fukushima 50
Mar 6, 2020
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
May 29, 2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
May 3, 2019
An Artist of the Floating World
Mar 30, 2019
The King and I
Nov 29, 2018
Bel Canto
Sep 13, 2018
Isle of Dogs
Mar 23, 2018
7 Guardians of the Tomb
Jan 19, 2018
Transformers: The Last Knight
Jun 16, 2017
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
Jan 28, 2017
The Memories of Happiness
Jan 8, 2017
Rage
Sep 17, 2016
The Sea of Trees
Apr 27, 2016
Evolution Within Extinction
Sep 30, 2014
Snow Jack
Aug 2, 2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Jun 25, 2014
Godzilla
May 14, 2014
Unforgiven
Sep 13, 2013
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
Feb 11, 2012
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
Jan 1, 2011
A School Behind Bars
Oct 11, 2010