Ken Watanabe
Known for Acting
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.
Filmography
Inception
2010
as Saito
Batman Begins
2005
as Ra's al Ghul
The Creator
2023
as Harun
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
The Last Samurai
2003
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
as Drift (voice)
Godzilla
2014
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
as Drift (voice)
Isle of Dogs
2018
as Head Surgeon (voice)
Kokuho
2025
as Hanjiro Hanai
Tampopo
1985
as Gun
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
as Le président
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Rage
2016
as Yohei Maki
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009
as Mr. Tall
Space Travelers
2000
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
The Whispered City
2000
as Ishida
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018
as Father
Year One in the North
2005
as Komatsubara Hideaki