Acting

Ken Watanabe

Born 1959-10-21 · 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.

Credits

Newest first

Yamazaki Riverside - Over an Actor's Shoulder -
as Self
2026
Samurai Vengeance
as Kinji Shinoda
2026
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
as 東雲朔太郎
2026
The Final Piece
as Shigeyoshi Toumyo
2025
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025
Kokuho
as Hanjiro Hanai
2025
Unbound
as Tamema Okitsugu
2025
TRUE COLORS
as Taichirou Tsujimura
2025
All Lives
2024
Kensuke's Kingdom
as Kensuke (voice)
2024
True Love: Making The Creator
as Self
2023
The Creator
as Harun
2023
Tokyo Vice
as Hiroto Katagiri
2022
Tokyo Vice
Executive Producer
2022
Alice in Borderland
as Old Gentleman
2020
Toubousha
2020
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
Fukushima 50
as Masao Yoshida
2020
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
2019
An Artist of the Floating World
as Ono Masuji
2019
The King and I
as The King of Siam
2018
Bel Canto
as Katsumi Hosokawa
2018
Isle of Dogs
as Head Surgeon (voice)
2018
7 Guardians of the Tomb
as Father
2018
Segodon
as Shimazu Nariakira
2018
NHK WORLD PRIME
as Self - Presenter
2017
Transformers: The Last Knight
as Drift (voice)
2017
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
as Restaurant Patron
2017
The Memories of Happiness
as Taro Miura
2017
五年目のひとり
as 키자키 슈지
2016
Rage
as Yohei Maki
2016
The Sea of Trees
as Takumi Nakamura
2016
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
as 東雲朔太郎
2015
Evolution Within Extinction
as Self
2014
Snow Jack
as Reiji Kurata
2014
Back of Father
as Takamura Kouji
2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction
as Drift (voice)
2014
Godzilla
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
2014
Unforgiven
as Jubee Kamata
2013
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
as Junichiro Kawaguchi
2012
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
Production Manager
2012
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
as Regular
2011
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011
A School Behind Bars
2010
Inception
as Saito
2010
Shanghai
as Tanaka
2010
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
as Mr. Tall
2009
The Unbroken
as Hajime Onchi
2009
刑事一代平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009
Earth
as Narrator (voice)
2007
星ひとつの夜
as Nonoyama Hiroji
2007
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
as Self
2007
Letters from Iwo Jima
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
2006
Memories of Tomorrow
as Masayuki Saeki
2006
Memories of Tomorrow
Executive Producer
2006
Memoirs of a Geisha
as Chairman
2005
Batman Begins
as Ra's al Ghul
2005
Ashes and Snow
as Japanese Narrator (voice)
2005
Year One in the North
as Komatsubara Hideaki
2005
Vessel of Sand
as Shuichiro Imanishi
2004
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
The Last Samurai
as Moritsugu Katsumoto
2003
第三の時効
2003
Another Battle/Conspiracy
as Fujimaki Hiroaki
2003
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003
T.R.Y.
as Masanobu Azuma
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
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
as Okubo
2002
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001
Drowning Fish
as Miyota
2001
Proof of the Man 2001
as Munesue Koichiro
2001
Hojo Tokimune
as Hojo Tokiyori
2001
The Whispered City
as Ishida
2000
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
as Yokoyama
2000
Space Travelers
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
2000
Shimei Tehai
1998
Bonds
as Detective Sako Akio
1998