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Ken Watanabe is a Japanese 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 Christopher Nolan's films Batman Begins and Inception.
Birth Name
Kensaku Watanabe
Born
Wednesday, 21 October 1959
Actor Filmography
| Title | Character | Year |
|---|
| Kensuke's Kingdom | Kensuke | 2024 |
| The Creator | Harun | 2023 |
| Tokyo Vice | Hiroto Katagiri | 2022 |
| GMA3: What You Need to Know | Self | 2020 |
| Fukushima 50 | Masao Yoshida | 2020 |
| Godzilla: King of the Monsters | Dr. Ishiro Serizawa | 2019 |
| Pokémon: Detective Pikachu | Lieutenant Hide Yoshida | 2019 |
| The King and I | The King of Siam | 2018 |
| Bel Canto | Katsumi Hosokawa / Hosokawa | 2018 |
| Isle of Dogs | Head Surgeon / Head Surgeon (voice) | 2018 |
Actor Filmography
| Title | Character | Year |
|---|
| Kensuke's Kingdom | Kensuke | 2024 |
| The Creator | Harun | 2023 |
| Tokyo Vice | Hiroto Katagiri | 2022 |
| GMA3: What You Need to Know | Self | 2020 |
| Fukushima 50 | Masao Yoshida | 2020 |
| Godzilla: King of the Monsters | Dr. Ishiro Serizawa | 2019 |
| Pokémon: Detective Pikachu | Lieutenant Hide Yoshida | 2019 |
| The King and I | The King of Siam | 2018 |
| Bel Canto | Katsumi Hosokawa / Hosokawa | 2018 |
| Isle of Dogs | Head Surgeon / Head Surgeon (voice) | 2018 |
| Segodon | Nariakira Shimazu | 2018 |
| Transformers: The Last Knight | Drift (voice) / Drift | 2017 |
| Hollywood First Look | Self | 2017 |
| Rage | Yohei Maki | 2016 |
| The Sea of Trees | Takumi Nakamura | 2016 |
| The 69th Annual Tony Awards | Self - Nominee & Performer | 2015 |
| Godzilla: Force of Nature | Self | 2014 |
| Transformers: Age of Extinction | Drift (voice) / Drift | 2014 |
| Godzilla | Dr. Ishiro Serizawa | 2014 |
| Unforgiven | Jubee kamata | 2013 |
| Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home | Junichiro Kawaguchi / Shunichiro Yamaguchi | 2012 |
| Hei no naka no chûgakkô | 2010 | |
| Inception | Saito | 2010 |
| Shanghai | Tanaka | 2010 |
| The Unbroken | Hajime Onchi | 2009 |
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant | Mr. Tall | 2009 |
| VS Arashi | Self | 2008 |
| Earth | Narrator | 2007 |
| The 79th Annual Academy Awards | Self - Presenter | 2007 |
| Letters from Iwo Jima | General Kuribayashi / General Tadamichi Kuribayashi | 2006 |
| Memories of Tomorrow | Masayuki Saeki | 2006 |
| Moonlight in Tokyo | Inspector | 2005 |
| Memoirs of a Geisha | Chairman | 2005 |
| Made in Hollywood | Self | 2005 |
| Batman Begins | Ra's Al Ghul / Decoy Ra's al Ghul | 2005 |
| Ashes and Snow | Japanese Narrator / Japanese Narrator (voice) | 2005 |
| Year One in the North | Komatsubara Hideaki / Hideaki Komatsubara | 2005 |
| Suna no utsuwa | Syuichiro Imanishi | 2004 |
| The Last Samurai | Katsumoto / Moritsugu Katsumoto | 2003 |
| Another Battle/Conspiracy | Fujimaki Hiroaki | 2003 |
| T.R.Y. | Masanobu Azuma | 2003 |
| Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS | Okubo | 2002 |
| Chushingura 1/47 | 2001 | |
| Sennen no koi - Hikaru Genji monogatari | Fujiwara no Michinaga / Fujiwara no Nobutaka | 2001 |
| Drowning Fish | Miyota | 2001 |
| The Whispered City | Ishida | 2000 |
| Ikebukuro West Gate Park | Yokoyama | 2000 |
| Space Travelers | Sakamaki ("Crusher") | 2000 |
| Kizuna | Detective Sako Akio | 1998 |
| Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald | Raita Onuki, the truck driver / Raita Onuki | 1997 |
| Hanzo, the Razor | 1993 | |
| HBO First Look | Self | 1992 |
| Bakumatsu jyunjyoden | Ryouma Sakamoto | 1991 |
| Karate Warrior 2 | Kimura | 1988 |
| Karate Warrior | Maestro Kimura / Master Kimura | 1987 |
| The Sea and Poison | Toda | 1986 |
| Tampopo | Gun | 1985 |
| Kekkon annai misuterî | Funayama Tetsuya / Masakazu Sekine | 1985 |
| MacArthur's Children | Tetsuo Nakai / Tetsuo | 1984 |
| Ninja's Force | Professor | 1984 |
Producer Filmography
| Title | Year |
|---|
| Tokyo Vice | 2022 |
| Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home | 2012 |
| Memories of Tomorrow | 2006 |
| Year | Type | Category | Won |
|---|
| 2004 | Oscar | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Nominated |
| 2004 | Golden Globe | Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | Nominated |
