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.
Awards & recognition
- Blue Ribbon Awards — Best Actor · 2007
- Elan d'or Award — Newcomer of the Year · 1987
- Tony Award — Best Actor in a Musical · 2015 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actor · 2004 · nominated
Filmography30 titles
Inception
Alice in Borderland
Oda Nobunaga
Gokenin Zankuro
Tokyo Vice
Isle of Dogs
Tampopo
Batman Begins
Earth
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Last Samurai
Letters from Iwo Jima
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
Kensuke's Kingdom
The Creator
Unforgiven
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
Commando Invasion
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Fukushima 50
Godzilla
The Sea of Trees
Transformers: The Last Knight
Shanghai
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Bel Canto
7 Guardians of the Tomb
An Artist of the Floating World
Hanzo, the Razor