Ken Watanabe
Known for ActingBorn 1959-10-21Uonuma, 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.
Known for
Inception
2010 · as Saito
Batman Begins
2005 · as Ra's al Ghul
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019 · as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
The Last Samurai
2003 · as Moritsugu Katsumoto
Godzilla
2014 · as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017 · as Drift (voice)
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014 · as Drift (voice)
The Creator
2023 · as Harun
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019 · as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 · as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Isle of Dogs
2018 · as Head Surgeon (voice)
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · as Le président
Kokuho
2025 · as Hanjiro Hanai
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009 · as Mr. Tall
Tampopo
1985 · as Gun
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024 · as Kensuke (voice)
Fukushima 50
2020 · as Masao Yoshida
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018 · as Father