Ken Watanabe
Acting
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.
As actor 104
Inception
2010
Alice in Borderland
2020
Batman Begins
2005
Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen
1990
Tokyo Vice
2022
The Creator
2023
The Last Samurai
2003
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
2019
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
2019
Transformers: The Last Knight
2017
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014
Godzilla
2014
Isle of Dogs
2018
Segodon
2018
Masamune Shogun
1987
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
2015
Kokuho
2025
Hanekonma
1986
Memoirs of a Geisha
2005
Tampopo
1985
TRUE COLORS
2025
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000
Unbound
2025
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
2009
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017
The Sea of Trees
2016
Shanghai
2010
Back of Father
2014
The Fire Still Burns
1993
Fukushima 50
2020
7 Guardians of the Tomb
2018
The Final Piece
2025
Bel Canto
2018
Earth
2007
Gokenin Zankuro
1995
Rage
2016
Vessel of Sand
2004
Kensuke's Kingdom
2024
Space Travelers
2000
Unforgiven
2013
Waga Machi
1992
Hojo Tokimune
2001
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
2002
Samurai Vengeance
2026
An Artist of the Floating World
2019
Oda Nobunaga
1992
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
1997
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
2026
Memories of Tomorrow
2006
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
2002
Toubousha
2020
A Tale of Two Truncheons
1984
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
2003
藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」
2003
Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji
2001
Oda Nobunaga
1989
Takeda Shingen
1991
The Unbroken
2009
The Making of "Tampopo"
1986
Ashes and Snow
2005
The Whispered City
2000
The Sea and Poison
1986
Baian the Assassin
1991
The King and I
2018
MacArthur's Children
1984
T.R.Y.
2003
Kagi-shi
1993
A School Behind Bars
2010
Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS
2002
Snow Jack
2014
A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era
1991
Musuko no Gokikan
1990
Evolution Within Extinction
2014
Year One in the North
2005
Hanzo, the Razor
1993
Bonds
1998
Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home
2012
All Lives
2024
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
2007
Izakaya Chōji
1992
Shimei Tehai
1998
The Memories of Happiness
2017
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
2020
星ひとつの夜
2007
Drowning Fish
2001
強行犯捜査第七係
2002
Another Battle/Conspiracy
2003
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
1992
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
2011
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
1992
五年目のひとり
2016
Baian the Assassin
1990
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
1993
Proof of the Man 2001
2001
True Love: Making The Creator
2023
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
2025
Kekkon Annai Mystery
1985
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
2011
第三の時効
2003
ツナガルココロ 3 LOVE STORIES
2008
Commando Invasion
1987
刑事一代 平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史
2009
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
2017
