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.

Ken Watanabe

Acting Born October 21, 1959 Uonuma, Niigata, Japan

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

Inception

Saito

Alice in Borderland

Old Gentleman

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

Batman Begins

Ra's al Ghul

The Last Samurai

Moritsugu Katsumoto

Tokyo Vice

Hiroto Katagiri

Isle of Dogs

Head Surgeon (voice)

The Creator

Harun

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Drift (voice)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Godzilla

Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Transformers: The Last Knight

Drift (voice)