Ken Watanabe
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.
Also Known As
Movie Appearances
Batman Begins
as Ra's al Ghul
2005
Letters from Iwo Jima
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
2006
The Last Samurai
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
2003
Tampopo
as Gun
1985
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
as Mr. Tall
2009
Inception
as Saito
2010
Shanghai
as Tanaka
2010
T.R.Y.
as Masanobu Azuma
2003
Space Travelers
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
2000
第三の時効
2003
The Creator
as Harun
2023
Unforgiven
as Jubee Kamata
2013
Godzilla
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2014
Memories of Tomorrow
as Masayuki Saeki
2006
The Making of "Tampopo"
as Self
1986
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
The Unbroken
as Hajime Onchi
2009
A School Behind Bars
2010
Year One in the North
as Komatsubara Hideaki
2005
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
as Junichiro Kawaguchi
2012
TV Appearances
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
as Yokoyama
2000
Kagi-shi
1993
Oda Nobunaga
1989
Vessel of Sand
as Shuichiro Imanishi
2004
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
NHK WORLD PRIME
as Self - Presenter
2017
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002
Masamune Shogun
as 伊達政宗
1987
Segodon
as Shimazu Nariakira
2018
強行犯捜査第七係
2002
Izakaya Chōji
1992