7Acting
Ken Watanabe
- Born
- 1959-10-21
- Birthplace
- Uonuma, Niigata, Japan
Biography
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
Filmography
105 titles · Newest first · Cast and crew credits
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
2026 · TV Show
東雲朔太郎
Samurai Vengeance
2026 · Movie
Kinji Shinoda
Yamazaki Riverside - Over an Actor's Shoulder -
2026 · Movie
Self
Kokuho
2025 · Movie
Hanjiro Hanai
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025 · Movie
Cast
The Final Piece
2025 · Movie
Shigeyoshi Toumyo
TRUE COLORS
2025 · TV Show
Taichirou Tsujimura
Unbound
2025 · TV Show
Tamema Okitsugu
All Lives
2024 · Movie
Cast
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024 · Movie
Kensuke (voice)
The Creator
2023 · Movie
Harun
True Love: Making The Creator
2023 · Movie
Self
Tokyo Vice
2022 · TV Show
Hiroto Katagiri · Executive Producer
Alice in Borderland
2020 · TV Show
Old Gentleman
Fukushima 50
2020 · Movie
Masao Yoshida
Toubousha
2020 · TV Show
Cast
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020 · Movie
Cast
An Artist of the Floating World
2019 · Movie
Ono Masuji
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019 · Movie
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019 · Movie
Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018 · Movie
Father
Bel Canto
2018 · Movie
Katsumi Hosokawa
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Movie
Head Surgeon (voice)
Segodon
2018 · TV Show
Shimazu Nariakira
The King and I
2018 · Movie
The King of Siam
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017 · Movie
Restaurant Patron
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017 · TV Show
Self - Presenter
The Memories of Happiness
2017 · Movie
Taro Miura
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017 · Movie
Drift (voice)
Rage
2016 · Movie
Yohei Maki
The Sea of Trees
2016 · Movie
Takumi Nakamura
五年目のひとり
2016 · TV Show
키자키 슈지
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015 · TV Show
東雲朔太郎
Back of Father
2014 · TV Show
Takamura Kouji
Evolution Within Extinction
2014 · Movie
Self
Godzilla
2014 · Movie
Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Snow Jack
2014 · Movie
Reiji Kurata
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014 · Movie
Drift (voice)
Unforgiven
2013 · Movie
Jubee Kamata
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012 · Movie
Junichiro Kawaguchi · Production Manager
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011 · Movie
Cast
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011 · TV Show
Regular
A School Behind Bars
2010 · Movie
Cast
Inception
2010 · Movie
Saito
Shanghai
2010 · Movie
Tanaka
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009 · Movie
Mr. Tall
The Unbroken
2009 · Movie
Hajime Onchi
刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009 · TV Show
Cast
Earth
2007 · Movie
Narrator (voice)
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
2007 · Movie
Self
星ひとつの夜
2007 · Movie
Nonoyama Hiroji
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 · Movie
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Memories of Tomorrow
2006 · Movie
Masayuki Saeki · Executive Producer
Ashes and Snow
2005 · Movie
Japanese Narrator (voice)
Batman Begins
2005 · Movie
Ra's al Ghul
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 · Movie
Chairman
Year One in the North
2005 · Movie
Komatsubara Hideaki
Vessel of Sand
2004 · TV Show
Shuichiro Imanishi
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003 · Movie
Fujimaki Hiroaki
T.R.Y.
2003 · Movie
Masanobu Azuma
The Last Samurai
2003 · Movie
Moritsugu Katsumoto
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003 · TV Show
Cast
第三の時効
2003 · Movie
Cast
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003 · TV Show
Cast
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002 · Movie
Okubo
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002 · TV Show
Cast
強行犯捜査第七係
2002 · TV Show
Cast
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002 · TV Show
Cast
Drowning Fish
2001 · Movie
Miyota
Hojo Tokimune
2001 · TV Show
Hojo Tokiyori
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001 · Movie
Cast
Proof of the Man 2001
2001 · Movie
Munesue Koichiro
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000 · TV Show
Yokoyama
Space Travelers
2000 · Movie
Sakamaki ("Crusher")
The Whispered City
2000 · Movie
Ishida
Bonds
1998 · Movie
Detective Sako Akio
Shimei Tehai
1998 · TV Show
Cast
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997 · Movie
Raita Onuki
Gokenin Zankuro
1995 · TV Show
Zankuro Matsudaira
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993 · Movie
Dr. Baian
Hanzo, the Razor
1993 · Movie
Cast
Kagi-shi
1993 · TV Show
Cast
The Fire Still Burns
1993 · TV Show
Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992 · Movie
Mochizuki Koheita
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992 · Movie
Kojirō
Izakaya Chōji
1992 · TV Show
Cast
Oda Nobunaga
1992 · Movie
Cast
Waga Machi
1992 · TV Show
Cast
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991 · Movie
Ryoma Sakamoto
Baian the Assassin
1991 · TV Show
Fujieda Baian
Takeda Shingen
1991 · Movie
Narrator
Baian the Assassin
1990 · Movie
Dr. Baian
Musuko no Gokikan
1990 · TV Show
Cast
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990 · TV Show
Cast
Harimao
1989 · Movie
Producer
Oda Nobunaga
1989 · TV Show
Cast
Commando Invasion
1987 · Movie
Cast
Masamune Shogun
1987 · TV Show
伊達政宗
Hanekonma
1986 · TV Show
Genzo Onodera
The Making of "Tampopo"
1986 · Movie
Self
The Sea and Poison
1986 · Movie
Toda
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985 · Movie
Cast
Tampopo
1985 · Movie
Gun
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984 · TV Show
Cast
MacArthur's Children
1984 · Movie
Tetsuo Nakai