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Ken Watanabe

Actor

Ken Watanabe

Born October 21, 1959 in Uonuma, Niigata, Japan63 films

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.

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Inception posterFirst watchInception20108.4as SaitoCobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be…View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
Batman Begins poster7.7Batman Begins2005The Last Samurai poster7.6The Last Samurai2003Isle of Dogs poster7.8Isle of Dogs2018Memoirs of a Geisha poster7.6Memoirs of a Geisha2005Pokémon Detective Pikachu poster6.9Pokémon Detective Pikachu2019Godzilla: King of the Monsters poster6.7Godzilla: King of the Monsters2019Godzilla poster6.4Godzilla2014The Creator poster7.0The Creator2023

Filmography

63 films as actor
  1. 2026Samurai VengeanceKinji Shinoda
  2. 2025The Final PieceShigeyoshi Toumyo
  3. 2025LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
  4. 2025KokuhoHanjiro Hanai
  5. 2024All Lives
  6. 2024Kensuke's KingdomKensuke (voice)
  7. 2023The CreatorHarun
  8. 2020劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
  9. 2020Fukushima 50Masao Yoshida
  10. 2019Godzilla: King of the MonstersDr. Ishiro Serizawa
  11. 2019Pokémon Detective PikachuLieutenant Hide Yoshida
  12. 2019An Artist of the Floating WorldOno Masuji
  13. 2018The King and IThe King of Siam
  14. 2018Bel CantoKatsumi Hosokawa
  15. 2018Isle of DogsHead Surgeon (voice)
  16. 20187 Guardians of the TombFather
  17. 2017Transformers: The Last KnightDrift (voice)
  18. 2017Dirty, Clean, & InbetweenRestaurant Patron
  19. 2017The Memories of HappinessTaro Miura
  20. 2016RageYohei Maki
  21. 2016The Sea of TreesTakumi Nakamura
  22. 2014Snow JackReiji Kurata
  23. 2014Transformers: Age of ExtinctionDrift (voice)
  24. 2014GodzillaDr. Ishiro Serizawa
  25. 2013UnforgivenJubee Kamata
  26. 2012Hayabusa: The Long Voyage HomeJunichiro Kawaguchi
  27. 2011Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
  28. 2010A School Behind Bars
  29. 2010InceptionSaito
  30. 2010ShanghaiTanaka
  31. 2009Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's AssistantMr. Tall
  32. 2009The UnbrokenHajime Onchi
  33. 2007星ひとつの夜Nonoyama Hiroji
  34. 2006Letters from Iwo JimaGeneral Tadamichi Kuribayashi
  35. 2006Memories of TomorrowMasayuki Saeki
  36. 2005Memoirs of a GeishaChairman
  37. 2005Batman BeginsRa's al Ghul
  38. 2005Year One in the NorthKomatsubara Hideaki
  39. 2003The Last SamuraiMoritsugu Katsumoto
  40. 2003第三の時効
  41. 2003Another Battle/ConspiracyFujimaki Hiroaki
  42. 2003T.R.Y.Masanobu Azuma
  43. 2002Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHSOkubo
  44. 2001Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
  45. 2001Drowning FishMiyota
  46. 2001Proof of the Man 2001Munesue Koichiro
  47. 2000The Whispered CityIshida
  48. 2000Space TravelersSakamaki ("Crusher")
  49. 1998BondsDetective Sako Akio
  50. 1997Welcome Back, Mr. McDonaldRaita Onuki
  51. 1993Baian the Assassin: ShowdownDr. Baian
  52. 1993Hanzo, the Razor
  53. 1992Chronicle of the Town MagistrateMochizuki Koheita
  54. 1992Oda Nobunaga
  55. 1992Ganryujima: Kojiro and MusashiKojirō
  56. 1991A Naive History of the Bakumatsu EraRyoma Sakamoto
  57. 1991Takeda ShingenNarrator
  58. 1990Baian the AssassinDr. Baian
  59. 1987Commando Invasion
  60. 1986The Sea and PoisonToda
  61. 1985TampopoGun
  62. 1985Kekkon Annai Mystery
  63. 1984MacArthur's ChildrenTetsuo Nakai