Ken Watanabe
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.
Photos
Movies (71)
Yamazaki Riverside - Over an Actor's Shoulder -
2026 · Self
Samurai Vengeance
2026 · Kinji Shinoda
The Final Piece
2025 · Shigeyoshi Toumyo
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025
Kokuho
2025 · Hanjiro Hanai
All Lives
2024
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024 · Kensuke (voice)
True Love: Making The Creator
2023 · Self
Resistencia
2023 · Harun
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
Fukushima: Amenaza nuclear
2020 · Masao Yoshida
Godzilla 2: El rey de los monstruos
2019 · Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019 · Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
An Artist of the Floating World
2019 · Ono Masuji
The King and I
2018 · The King of Siam
Bel Canto
2018 · Katsumi Hosokawa
Isla de perros
2018 · Head Surgeon (voice)
Guardianes de la tumba
2018 · Father
Transformers 5: El Ultimo Caballero
2017 · Drift (voice)
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017 · Restaurant Patron
The Memories of Happiness
2017 · Taro Miura
Rage
2016 · Yohei Maki
El Bosque de los Sueños
2016 · Takumi Nakamura
Evolution Within Extinction
2014 · Self
Snow Jack
2014 · Reiji Kurata
Transformers: La era de la extinción
2014 · Drift (voice)
Godzilla
2014 · Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Unforgiven
2013 · Jubee Kamata
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012 · Junichiro Kawaguchi, Production Manager
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011
A School Behind Bars
2010
Inception
2010 · Saito
Shanghai
2010 · Tanaka
El aprendiz de vampiro
2009 · Mr. Tall
The Unbroken
2009 · Hajime Onchi
La Tierra
2007 · Narrator (voice)
星ひとつの夜
2007 · Nonoyama Hiroji
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
2007 · Self
Cartas desde Iwo Jima
2006 · General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memories of Tomorrow
2006 · Masayuki Saeki, Executive Producer
Memorias de una geisha
2005 · Chairman
Batman inicia
2005 · Ra's al Ghul
Ashes and Snow
2005 · Japanese Narrator (voice)
Year One in the North
2005 · Komatsubara Hideaki
El Último Samurái
2003 · Moritsugu Katsumoto
第三の時効
2003
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003 · Fujimaki Hiroaki
T.R.Y.
2003 · Masanobu Azuma
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002 · Okubo
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001
Drowning Fish
2001 · Miyota
Proof of the Man 2001
2001 · Munesue Koichiro
The Whispered City
2000 · Ishida
Space Travelers
2000 · Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Bonds
1998 · Detective Sako Akio
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997 · Raita Onuki
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993 · Dr. Baian
Hanzo, the Razor
1993
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992 · Mochizuki Koheita
Oda Nobunaga
1992
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992 · Kojirō
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991 · Ryoma Sakamoto
Takeda Shingen
1991 · Narrator
Baian the Assassin
1990 · Dr. Baian
Harimao
1989 · Producer
Commando Invasion
1987
The Sea and Poison
1986 · Toda
The Making of "Tampopo"
1986 · Self
Tampopo
1985 · Gun
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985
MacArthur's Children
1984 · Tetsuo Nakai
TV shows (35)
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
2026 · 東雲朔太郎
Unbound
2025 · Tamema Okitsugu
TRUE COLORS
2025 · Taichirou Tsujimura
Tokyo Vice
2022 · Hiroto Katagiri, Executive Producer
Alice in Borderland
2020 · Old Gentleman
Toubousha
2020
Segodon
2018 · Shimazu Nariakira
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017 · Self - Presenter
五年目のひとり
2016 · 키자키 슈지
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015 · 東雲朔太郎
Back of Father
2014 · Takamura Kouji
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011 · Regular
刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009
Vessel of Sand
2004 · Shuichiro Imanishi
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002
強行犯捜査第七係
2002
Hojo Tokimune
2001 · Hojo Tokiyori
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000 · Yokoyama
Shimei Tehai
1998
Gokenin Zankuro
1995 · Zankuro Matsudaira
The Fire Still Burns
1993 · Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
Kagi-shi
1993
Waga Machi
1992
Izakaya Chōji
1992
Baian the Assassin
1991 · Fujieda Baian
Musuko no Gokikan
1990
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
Oda Nobunaga
1989
Masamune Shogun
1987 · 伊達政宗
Hanekonma
1986 · Genzo Onodera
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984
あなたが欲しい－I WANT YOU－