Profile photo of Ken Watanabe

Ken Watanabe

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.

Filmography

2025
Kokuho

as Hanjiro Hanai

Movie
2023
The Creator

as Harun

Movie
2019
Godzilla: King of the Monsters

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Movie
2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu

as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida

Movie
2018
Isle of Dogs

as Head Surgeon (voice)

Movie
2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction

as Drift (voice)

Movie
2014
Godzilla

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Movie
2010
Inception

as Saito

Movie
2009
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

as Mr. Tall

Movie
2006
Letters from Iwo Jima

as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

Movie
2005
Memoirs of a Geisha

as Chairman

Movie
2005
Batman Begins

as Ra's al Ghul

Movie
2003
The Last Samurai

as Moritsugu Katsumoto

Movie
1985
Tampopo

as Gun

Movie