Quick Facts
Born:
1959-10-21
Birthplace:
Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
Credits:
100 Total Roles
Ken Watanabe
Acting
The MovieWise Take
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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.
Known For
Inception
Saito
Batman Begins
Ra's al Ghul
Godzilla
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Drift (voice)
The Last Samurai
Moritsugu Katsumoto
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Transformers: The Last Knight
Drift (voice)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Full Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Samurai Vengeance MOVIE | Kinji Shinoda |
| 2026 | Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho TV | 東雲朔太郎 |
| 2025 | The Final Piece MOVIE | Shigeyoshi Toumyo |
| 2025 | LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER MOVIE | Self |
| 2025 | Kokuho MOVIE | Hanjiro Hanai |
| 2025 | Unbound TV | Tamema Okitsugu |
| 2025 | TRUE COLORS TV | Taichirou Tsujimura |
| 2024 | All Lives MOVIE | Self |
| 2024 | Kensuke's Kingdom MOVIE | Kensuke (voice) |
| 2023 | True Love: Making The Creator MOVIE | Self |