Ken Watanabe

Acting

October 21, 1959 (66 years old)

Uonuma, Niigata, Japan

Male

71 Movies

35 TV Shows

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.

Inception

2010 8.4

as Saito

Age 50 (now 66)

The Last Samurai

2003 7.6

as Moritsugu Katsumoto

Age 44 (now 66)

Letters from Iwo Jima

2006 7.5

as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Age 47 (now 66)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2019 6.7

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Age 59 (now 66)

Memoirs of a Geisha

2005 7.6

as Le président

Age 46 (now 66)

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

2019 6.9

as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida

Age 59 (now 66)

Godzilla

2014 6.4

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Age 54 (now 66)

The Creator

2023 7.0

as Harun

Age 63 (now 66)

Batman Begins

2005 7.7

as Ra's al Ghul

Age 45 (now 66)

The Sea of Trees

2016 6.2

as Takumi Nakamura

Age 56 (now 66)

Tampopo

1985 7.8

as Gun

Age 26 (now 66)

Fukushima 50

2020 6.5

as Masao Yoshida

Age 60 (now 66)

Earth

2007 7.6

as Narrator (voice)

Age 47 (now 66)

Isle of Dogs

2018 7.8

as Head Surgeon (voice)

Age 58 (now 66)

Tokyo Vice

2022 7.9

Executive Producer

Age 62 (now 66) 18 eps

18 eps

Tokyo Vice

2022 7.9

as Hiroto Katagiri

Age 62 (now 66) 18 eps

18 eps

Samurai Vengeance

2026 9.2

as Kinji Shinoda

Age 66

The Final Piece

2025 9.4

as Shigeyoshi Toumyo

Age 66

LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER

2025

Age 65 (now 66)

Kokuho

2025 7.9

as Hanjiro Hanai

Age 65 (now 66)

All Lives

2024 6.7

Age 64 (now 66)

Kensuke's Kingdom

2024 7.2

as Kensuke (voice)

Age 64 (now 66)

True Love: Making The Creator

2023 8.0

as Self

Age 64 (now 66)

The Creator

2023 7.0

as Harun

Age 63 (now 66)

劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編

2020 7.0

Age 61 (now 66)

Fukushima 50

2020 6.5

as Masao Yoshida

Age 60 (now 66)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2019 6.7

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Age 59 (now 66)

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

2019 6.9

as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida

Age 59 (now 66)

An Artist of the Floating World

2019

as Ono Masuji

Age 59 (now 66)

The King and I

2018 7.0

as The King of Siam

Age 59 (now 66)

Bel Canto

2018 5.5

as Katsumi Hosokawa

Age 58 (now 66)

Isle of Dogs

2018 7.8

as Head Surgeon (voice)

Age 58 (now 66)

7 Guardians of the Tomb

2018 5.4

as Father

Age 58 (now 66)

Transformers: The Last Knight

2017 6.1

as Drift (voice)

Age 57 (now 66)

Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween

2017

as Restaurant Patron

Age 57 (now 66)

The Memories of Happiness

2017

as Taro Miura

Age 57 (now 66)

Rage

2016 6.8

as Yohei Maki

Age 56 (now 66)

The Sea of Trees

2016 6.2

as Takumi Nakamura

Age 56 (now 66)

Evolution Within Extinction

2014 7.7

as Self

Age 54 (now 66)

Snow Jack

2014

as Reiji Kurata

Age 54 (now 66)

Transformers: Age of Extinction

2014 6.0

as Drift (voice)

Age 54 (now 66)

Godzilla

2014 6.4

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Age 54 (now 66)

Unforgiven

2013 7.0

as Jubee Kamata

Age 53 (now 66)

Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home

2012 6.4

as Junichiro Kawaguchi

Age 52 (now 66)

Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home

2012 6.4

Production Manager

Age 52 (now 66)

Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -

2011

Age 51 (now 66)

A School Behind Bars

2010 10.0

Age 50 (now 66)

Inception

2010 8.4

as Saito

Age 50 (now 66)

Shanghai

2010 6.1

as Tanaka

Age 50 (now 66)

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

2009 5.9

as Mr. Tall

Age 50 (now 66)

The Unbroken

2009 6.7

as Hajime Onchi

Age 50 (now 66)

Earth

2007 7.6

as Narrator (voice)

Age 47 (now 66)

星ひとつの夜

2007

as Nonoyama Hiroji

Age 47 (now 66)

Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'

2007

as Self

Age 47 (now 66)

Letters from Iwo Jima

2006 7.5

as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Age 47 (now 66)

Memories of Tomorrow

2006 6.1

Executive Producer

Age 46 (now 66)

Memories of Tomorrow

2006 6.1

as Masayuki Saeki

Age 46 (now 66)

Memoirs of a Geisha

2005 7.6

as Le président

Age 46 (now 66)

Batman Begins

2005 7.7

as Ra's al Ghul

Age 45 (now 66)

Ashes and Snow

2005 7.2

as Japanese Narrator (voice)

Age 45 (now 66)

Year One in the North

2005 5.7

as Komatsubara Hideaki

Age 45 (now 66)

The Last Samurai

2003 7.6

as Moritsugu Katsumoto

Age 44 (now 66)

第三の時効

2003

Age 43 (now 66)

Another Battle/Conspiracy

2003

as Fujimaki Hiroaki

Age 43 (now 66)

T.R.Y.

2003 7.2

as Masanobu Azuma

Age 43 (now 66)

Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS

2002 8.0

as Okubo

Age 42 (now 66)

Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji

2001 5.9

Age 42 (now 66)

Drowning Fish

2001 7.7

as Miyota

Age 41 (now 66)

The Whispered City

2000 9.0

as Ishida

Age 40 (now 66)

Space Travelers

2000 6.1

as Sakamaki ("Crusher")

Age 40 (now 66)

Bonds

1998 5.6

as Detective Sako Akio

Age 38 (now 66)

Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

1997 7.7

as Raita Onuki

Age 38 (now 66)

Baian the Assassin: Showdown

1993

as Dr. Baian

Age 33 (now 66)

Hanzo, the Razor

1993

Age 33 (now 66)

Chronicle of the Town Magistrate

1992

as Mochizuki Koheita

Age 33 (now 66)

Oda Nobunaga

1992 8.0

Age 32 (now 66)

Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi

1992 8.5

as Kojirō

Age 32 (now 66)

A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era

1991 7.5

as Ryoma Sakamoto

Age 31 (now 66)

Takeda Shingen

1991

as Narrator

Age 31 (now 66)

Baian the Assassin

1990

as Dr. Baian

Age 31 (now 66)

Harimao

1989 8.0

Producer

Age 29 (now 66)

Commando Invasion

1987 6.8

Age 27 (now 66)

The Sea and Poison

1986 7.1

as Toda

Age 26 (now 66)

The Making of "Tampopo"

1986

as Self

Age 26 (now 66)

Tampopo

1985 7.8

as Gun

Age 26 (now 66)

Kekkon Annai Mystery

1985 8.8

Age 25 (now 66)

MacArthur's Children

1984 5.5

as Tetsuo Nakai

Age 24 (now 66)