Ken Watanabe

Known for: Acting

Born: 1959-10-21 (age 66)

From: Uonuma, Niigata, Japan

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 (103)

MOVIE★ 8.8
Samurai Vengeance
2026
as Kinji Shinoda
TV
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
2026
as 東雲朔太郎
MOVIE★ 9.4
The Final Piece
2025
as Shigeyoshi Toumyo
MOVIE
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025
MOVIE★ 7.8
Kokuho
2025
as Hanjiro Hanai
TV★ 9.3
Unbound
2025
as Tamema Okitsugu
TV★ 8.0
TRUE COLORS
2025
as Taichirou Tsujimura
MOVIE★ 6.7
All Lives
2024
MOVIE★ 7.2
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024
as Kensuke (voice)
MOVIE★ 8.0
True Love: Making The Creator
2023
as Self
MOVIE★ 7.0
The Creator
2023
as Harun
TV★ 7.9
Tokyo Vice
2022
as Hiroto Katagiri
TV★ 8.1
Alice in Borderland
2020
as Old Gentleman
TV★ 7.0
Toubousha
2020
MOVIE★ 7.0
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
MOVIE★ 6.5
Fukushima 50
2020
as Masao Yoshida
MOVIE★ 6.7
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
MOVIE★ 6.9
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
MOVIE
An Artist of the Floating World
2019
as Ono Masuji
MOVIE★ 7.0
The King and I
2018
as The King of Siam
MOVIE★ 5.5
Bel Canto
2018
as Katsumi Hosokawa
MOVIE★ 7.8
Isle of Dogs
2018
as Head Surgeon (voice)
MOVIE★ 5.3
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018
as Father
TV★ 8.3
Segodon
2018
as Shimazu Nariakira
TV★ 9.0
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017
as Self - Presenter
MOVIE★ 6.1
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
as Drift (voice)
MOVIE
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017
as Restaurant Patron
MOVIE
The Memories of Happiness
2017
as Taro Miura
TV
五年目のひとり
2016
as 키자키 슈지
MOVIE★ 6.9
Rage
2016
as Yohei Maki
MOVIE★ 6.2
The Sea of Trees
2016
as Takumi Nakamura
TV★ 8.8
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015
as 東雲朔太郎
MOVIE★ 7.7
Evolution Within Extinction
2014
as Self
MOVIE
Snow Jack
2014
as Reiji Kurata
TV★ 8.0
Back of Father
2014
as Takamura Kouji
MOVIE★ 6.0
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
as Drift (voice)
MOVIE★ 6.4
Godzilla
2014
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
MOVIE★ 7.0
Unforgiven
2013
as Jubee Kamata
MOVIE★ 6.4
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012
as Junichiro Kawaguchi
TV
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011
as Regular
MOVIE
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011
MOVIE★ 10.0
A School Behind Bars
2010
MOVIE★ 8.4
Inception
2010
as Saito
MOVIE★ 6.1
Shanghai
2010
as Tanaka
MOVIE★ 5.9
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009
as Mr. Tall
MOVIE★ 6.7
The Unbroken
2009
as Hajime Onchi
TV
刑事一代平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009
MOVIE
ツナガルココロ 3 LOVE STORIES
2008
MOVIE★ 7.6
Earth
2007
as Narrator (voice)
MOVIE
星ひとつの夜
2007
as Nonoyama Hiroji
MOVIE
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
2007
as Self
MOVIE★ 7.5
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
MOVIE★ 6.1
Memories of Tomorrow
2006
as Masayuki Saeki
MOVIE★ 7.6
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
as Le président
MOVIE★ 7.7
Batman Begins
2005
as Ra's al Ghul
MOVIE★ 7.2
Ashes and Snow
2005
as Japanese Narrator (voice)
MOVIE★ 5.7
Year One in the North
2005
as Komatsubara Hideaki
TV★ 4.0
Vessel of Sand
2004
as Shuichiro Imanishi
TV
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
MOVIE★ 7.6
The Last Samurai
2003
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
MOVIE
第三の時効
2003
MOVIE
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003
as Fujimaki Hiroaki
TV
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003
MOVIE★ 7.2
T.R.Y.
2003
as Masanobu Azuma
TV★ 8.0
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002
TV
横山秀夫サスペンスシリーズ (TBS)
2002
TV
強行犯捜査第七係
2002
MOVIE★ 8.0
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002
as Okubo
MOVIE★ 5.9
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001
MOVIE★ 7.7
Drowning Fish
2001
as Miyota
TV★ 8.0
Hojo Tokimune
2001
as Hojo Tokiyori
MOVIE★ 9.0
The Whispered City
2000
as Ishida
TV★ 7.4
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000
as Yokoyama
MOVIE★ 6.1
Space Travelers
2000
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
TV
Shimei Tehai
1998
MOVIE★ 5.6
Bonds
1998
as Detective Sako Akio
MOVIE★ 7.7
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997
as Raita Onuki
TV★ 8.0
Gokenin Zankuro
1995
as Zankuro Matsudaira
MOVIE
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993
as Dr. Baian
TV
The Fire Still Burns
1993
as Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
TV
Kagi-shi
1993
MOVIE
Hanzo, the Razor
1993
MOVIE
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992
as Mochizuki Koheita
TV
Waga Machi
1992
TV
Izakaya Chōji
1992
MOVIE★ 8.0
Oda Nobunaga
1992
MOVIE★ 8.5
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992
as Kojirō
TV★ 10.0
Baian the Assassin
1991
as Fujieda Baian
MOVIE★ 7.5
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991
as Ryoma Sakamoto
MOVIE★ 10.0
Takeda Shingen
1991
as Narrator
MOVIE
Baian the Assassin
1990
as Dr. Baian
TV
Musuko no Gokikan
1990
TV★ 9.5
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
TV
Oda Nobunaga
1989
TV★ 9.0
Masamune Shogun
1987
as 伊達政宗
MOVIE★ 6.8
Commando Invasion
1987
MOVIE★ 7.1
The Sea and Poison
1986
as Toda
TV★ 8.0
Hanekonma
1986
as Genzo Onodera
MOVIE
The Making of "Tampopo"
1986
as Self
MOVIE★ 7.8
Tampopo
1985
as Gun
MOVIE★ 8.8
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985
MOVIE★ 5.5
MacArthur's Children
1984
as Tetsuo Nakai
TV
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984