Ken Watanabe

Born: 1959-10-21

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.


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Inception

as Saito
Released: 2010-07-15

Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his...

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as Drift (voice)
Released: 2017-06-16

Humans and Transformers are at war. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies...

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as Ra's al Ghul
Released: 2005-06-10

Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the...

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as Drift (voice)
Released: 2014-06-25

As humanity picks up the pieces after the battle of Chicago, a shadowy group reveals itself in...

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as Harun
Released: 2023-09-27

Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened...

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as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Released: 2019-05-29

Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off...

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The Last Samurai

as Moritsugu Katsumoto
Released: 2003-12-05

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare,...

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7 Guardians of the Tomb

as Father
Released: 2018-01-19

An innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China unearths a 2000...

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Godzilla

as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
Released: 2014-05-14

Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is...

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Pokémon Detective Pikachu

as Lieutenant Hide Yoshida
Released: 2019-05-03

In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across...

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as Head Surgeon (voice)
Released: 2018-03-23

In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs...

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Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

as Mr. Tall
Released: 2009-10-23

Darren Shan is a regular teenage kid. He and his friend Steve find out about a Freak Show coming...

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Memoirs of a Geisha

as Chairman
Released: 2005-12-06

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as...

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as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Released: 2006-12-09

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World...

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Kensuke's Kingdom

as Kensuke (voice)
Released: 2024-02-07

A young boy and his family set off on a sailing trip of a lifetime until a violent storm erupts,...

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Earth

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 2007-10-10

An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures...

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Tampopo

as Gun
Released: 1985-11-23

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit...

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Fukushima 50

as Masao Yoshida
Released: 2020-03-06

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear...

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The Sea of Trees

as Takumi Nakamura
Released: 2016-04-27

In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him...

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Bel Canto

as Katsumi Hosokawa
Released: 2018-09-13

A famous opera singer is held hostage in South America by a guerrilla rebel group after...

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Shanghai

as Tanaka
Released: 2010-06-10

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor...

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Unforgiven

as Jubee Kamata
Released: 2013-09-13

An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down...

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Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

as Raita Onuki
Released: 1997-11-08

A love story written by an ordinary housewife is going to be broadcast as a radio drama and...

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Rage

as Yohei Maki
Released: 2016-09-17

A man brutally murders a married couple and leaves the word “ikari” (“rage”) written with their...

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Evolution Within Extinction

as Self
Released: 2014-09-30

The definitive feature-length documentary on the creation of "Transformers: Age of Extinction".

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The King and I

as The King of Siam
Released: 2018-11-29

Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many...

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All Lives

as uncredited
Released: 2024-05-06

TV Tokyo's 60th anniversary special drama. This is a human drama about a doctor struggling with...

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Year One in the North

as Komatsubara Hideaki
Released: 2005-01-14

In 1868, after the fall of the Shogun-dominated Japan, the new government orders people from...

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MacArthur's Children

as Tetsuo Nakai
Released: 1984-06-23

In this drama at the end of World War II, the inhabitants of a small Japanese fishing village...

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The Unbroken

as Hajime Onchi
Released: 2009-10-23

Onchi was exiled to posts around Asia and Africa due to his work as head of a labor union for...

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The Whispered City

as Ishida
Released: 2000-07-07

Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa,...

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Memories of Tomorrow

as Masayuki Saeki
Released: 2006-05-13

After being stricken with Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life, a successful young...

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Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS

as Okubo
Released: 2002-06-16

A Japanese film that tells the tale of the birth of VHS. It follows Kagatani Shizuo, an...

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Bruce's Fists Of Vengeance

as Samurai Master
Released: 1980-08-22

To compete in his friend Peter's martial arts tournament, Jack flies into Manila from Hong Kong...

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Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi

as Kojirō
Released: 1992-01-01

In the 16th Year of Keityo (1611), the lord of Ogura Castle in Kyushu admitted Sasaki Kojiro's...

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The Sea and Poison

as Toda
Released: 1986-10-17

Two interns and a nurse are interrogated by American MPs for their involvement in an atrocity...

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A School Behind Bars

as uncredited
Released: 2010-10-11

"A School Behind Bars" centers around Asahi Junior High School, which is located within Nagano...

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Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home

as Junichiro Kawaguchi
Released: 2012-02-11

In May 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (or JAXA) launched an unmanned spacecraft of...

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Another Battle/Conspiracy

as Fujimaki Hiroaki
Released: 2003-02-15

Katsunori Takahashi and Ken Watanabe star in a modern yakuza tale in the classic Japanese film...

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Commando Invasion

as uncredited
Released: 1987-01-01

The leader of a group of American commandos has 5 days to kidnap a VC General to prove his...

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Baian the Assassin

as Dr. Baian
Released: 1990-12-26

Fujieda Baian is admired during the day as a skilled acupuncturist. However, his nighttime...

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Space Travelers

as Sakamaki ("Crusher")
Released: 2000-04-08

Three bank robbers, who declare themselves to be Space Travelers, take six persons as hostages...

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Bonds

as Detective Sako Akio
Released: 1998-06-06

Tetsuro Haga is a troubled gangster, living under the assumed identity Ise for ten years, to...

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True Love: Making The Creator

as Self
Released: 2023-11-14

Join director Gareth Edwards and crew for nearly an hour look behind the scenes. Hear from...

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A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era

as Ryoma Sakamoto
Released: 1991-07-06

In the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was a cute warrior, Souji Okita, who belonged...

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Chronicle of the Town Magistrate

as Mochizuki Koheita
Released: 1992-12-23

In a maelstrom of evil, can a new magistrate, samurai Mochizuki Koheita, with a reputation like...

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An Artist of the Floating World

as Ono Masuji
Released: 2019-03-30

In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art...

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Kekkon Annai Mystery

as uncredited
Released: 1985-06-15

A 19-year-old girl Hiroko Terasawa working in a matching agency promises her client Masakazu...

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Hanzo, the Razor

as uncredited
Released: 1993-01-01

During Tenpo period, Bakuhu announced a law regulating expenditures in order to improve the...

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Snow Jack

as Reiji Kurata
Released: 2014-08-02

A blackmail arrives at Appi ski resort. “We demand 30,000,000 yen as consolation money for the...

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The Making of "Tampopo"

as Self
Released: 1986-01-01

Documentary about the making of Juzo Itami's film "Tampopo" (1985).

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Oda Nobunaga

as uncredited
Released: 1992-01-05

Among the great ‘Warlords’ in Japanese history, Oda Nobunaga holds a unique place. In effect,...

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T.R.Y.

as Masanobu Azuma
Released: 2003-01-11

At the turn of the 20th Century amongst tension between China and Japan, a Japanese swindler in...

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The Memories of Happiness

as Taro Miura
Released: 2017-01-08

Taro's business failed and he got divorced. He also left his family's home. 5 years later, his...

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Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -

as uncredited
Released: 2011-01-01

Japanese TV movie

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Baian the Assassin: Showdown

as Dr. Baian
Released: 1993-10-06

Fujieda Baian is admired during the day as a skilled acupuncturist. However, at night, he is a...

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Drowning Fish

as Miyota
Released: 2001-02-03

When corporate executives are blackmailed into public displays of nudity on the busy streets of...

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劇場の灯を消すな!PARCO劇場編

as uncredited
Released: 2020-10-31

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Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween

as Restaurant Patron
Released: 2017-01-28

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Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

as uncredited
First aired: 1990-10-04

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Hanekonma

as Genzo Onodera
First aired: 1986-04-07

Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her...

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NHK WORLD PRIME

as Self - Presenter
First aired: 2017-10-07

NHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special...

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Tokyo Vice

as Hiroto Katagiri
First aired: 2022-04-07

A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American...

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Segodon

as Shimazu Nariakira
First aired: 2018-01-07

Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai...

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Masamune Shogun

as 伊達政宗
First aired: 1987-01-04

Broadcast TV drama NHK broadcast on January 4 to December 13, 1987 (Showa 62). In the...

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Ikebukuro West Gate Park

as Yokoyama
First aired: 2000-04-14

Living in an area known for its juvenile crime, 21-year-old Makoto has become a member of a...

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Gokenin Zankuro

as Zankuro Matsudaira
First aired: 1995-01-09

Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to...

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The Fire Still Burns

as Fujiwara Tsunekiyo
First aired: 1993-06-04

This drama tells the story of the Oushu Fujiwara clan spanning generations, 140 years in the...

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Hojo Tokimune

as Hojo Tokiyori
First aired: 2001-01-07

The 40th NHK Taiga Drama is Hojo Tokimune. It tells the dramatic and turbulent life of young...

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Back of Father

as Takamura Kouji
First aired: 2014-07-13

A 10-part omnibus drama by 10 different scriptwriters on the theme of fathers and their sons and...

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川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語

as uncredited
First aired: 2003-12-21

NHK's 50th-anniversary memorial drama serial. This drama consisting of several short stories...

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Waga Machi

as uncredited
First aired: 1992-10-13

Based on Ed McBain's "87th Precinct" series. The drama series is set in Tsukishima, a popular...

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Toubousha

as uncredited
First aired: 2020-12-05

A remake of the American show "The Fugitive."

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Vessel of Sand

as Shuichiro Imanishi
First aired: 2004-01-18

Eiryo Waga is well-known musician who has begun a rapid climb to stardom, but he must keep his...

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Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko

as uncredited
First aired: 2002-12-28

Based on the novel by Jirō Asada, the TV movie depicts the lives of the Shinsengumi warriors...

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Baian the Assassin

as Fujieda Baian
First aired: 1991-10-09

During the day, Dr. Baian is the friendly and trusted village acupuncturist. At night, he...

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横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)

as uncredited
First aired: 2002-07-08

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五年目のひとり

as 키자키 슈지
First aired: 2016-11-19

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Izakaya Chōji

as uncredited
First aired: 1992-07-10

The special drama depicts the sad and joyful life of a single-minded izakaya owner in a small...

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Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo

as Regular
First aired: 2011-10-16

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Kagi-shi

as uncredited
First aired: 1993-03-12

A locksmith who can open any kind of lock with his well-honed fingertip skills is caught up in a...

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