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.

Known For

Alice in Borderland

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

Inception

Batman Begins

Tokyo Vice

Back of Father

Segodon

The Creator

All Movies (69)

• Samurai Vengeance2026 · as Kinji Shinoda
• The Final Piece2025 · as Shigeyoshi Toumyo
• LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER2025
• Kokuho2025 · as Hanjiro Hanai
• All Lives2024
• Kensuke's Kingdom2024 · as Kensuke (voice)
• True Love: Making The Creator2023 · as Self
• The Creator2023 · as Harun
• 劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編2020
• Fukushima 502020 · as Masao Yoshida
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters2019 · as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
• Pokémon Detective Pikachu2019 · as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
• An Artist of the Floating World2019 · as Ono Masuji
• The King and I2018 · as The King of Siam
• Bel Canto2018 · as Katsumi Hosokawa
• Isle of Dogs2018 · as Head Surgeon (voice)
• 7 Guardians of the Tomb2018 · as Father
• Transformers: The Last Knight2017 · as Drift (voice)
• Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween2017 · as Restaurant Patron
• The Memories of Happiness2017 · as Taro Miura
• Rage2016 · as Yohei Maki
• The Sea of Trees2016 · as Takumi Nakamura
• Evolution Within Extinction2014 · as Self
• Snow Jack2014 · as Reiji Kurata
• Transformers: Age of Extinction2014 · as Drift (voice)
• Godzilla2014 · as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
• Unforgiven2013 · as Jubee Kamata
• Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home2012 · as Junichiro Kawaguchi
• Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -2011
• A School Behind Bars2010
• Inception2010 · as Saito
• Shanghai2010 · as Tanaka
• Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant2009 · as Mr. Tall
• The Unbroken2009 · as Hajime Onchi
• ツナガルココロ 3 LOVE STORIES2008
• Earth2007 · as Narrator (voice)
• 星ひとつの夜2007 · as Nonoyama Hiroji
• Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'2007 · as Self
• Letters from Iwo Jima2006 · as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
• Memories of Tomorrow2006 · as Masayuki Saeki
• Memoirs of a Geisha2005 · as Le président
• Batman Begins2005 · as Ra's al Ghul
• Ashes and Snow2005 · as Japanese Narrator (voice)
• Year One in the North2005 · as Komatsubara Hideaki
• The Last Samurai2003 · as Moritsugu Katsumoto
• 第三の時効2003
• Another Battle/Conspiracy2003 · as Fujimaki Hiroaki
• T.R.Y.2003 · as Masanobu Azuma
• Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS2002 · as Okubo
• Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji2001
• Drowning Fish2001 · as Miyota
• The Whispered City2000 · as Ishida
• Space Travelers2000 · as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
• Bonds1998 · as Detective Sako Akio
• Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald1997 · as Raita Onuki
• Baian the Assassin: Showdown1993 · as Dr. Baian
• Hanzo, the Razor1993
• Chronicle of the Town Magistrate1992 · as Mochizuki Koheita
• Oda Nobunaga1992
• Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi1992 · as Kojirō
• A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era1991 · as Ryoma Sakamoto
• Takeda Shingen1991 · as Narrator
• Baian the Assassin1990 · as Dr. Baian
• Commando Invasion1987
• The Sea and Poison1986 · as Toda
• The Making of "Tampopo"1986 · as Self
• Tampopo1985 · as Gun
• Kekkon Annai Mystery1985
• MacArthur's Children1984 · as Tetsuo Nakai

All TV Shows (34)

• Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho2026 · as 東雲朔太郎
• Unbound2025 · as Tamema Okitsugu
• TRUE COLORS2025 · as Taichirou Tsujimura
• Tokyo Vice2022 · as Hiroto Katagiri
• Alice in Borderland2020 · as Old Gentleman
• Toubousha2020
• Segodon2018 · as Shimazu Nariakira
• NHK WORLD PRIME2017 · as Self - Presenter
• 五年目のひとり2016 · as 키자키 슈지
• The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk2015 · as 東雲朔太郎
• Back of Father2014 · as Takamura Kouji
• Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo2011 · as Regular
• 刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史2009
• Vessel of Sand2004 · as 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 Otoko2002
• 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 Tokimune2001 · as Hojo Tokiyori
• Ikebukuro West Gate Park2000 · as Yokoyama
• Shimei Tehai1998
• Gokenin Zankuro1995 · as Zankuro Matsudaira
• The Fire Still Burns1993 · as Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
• Kagi-shi1993
• Waga Machi1992
• Izakaya Chōji1992
• Baian the Assassin1991 · as Fujieda Baian
• Musuko no Gokikan1990
• Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen1990
• Oda Nobunaga1989
• Masamune Shogun1987 · as 伊達政宗
• Hanekonma1986 · as Genzo Onodera
• A Tale of Two Truncheons1984