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Ken Watanabe

Kensaku Watanabe had his big career breakthrough when he was chosen to play the lead in the Japanese national TV drama series called "Dokugan ryu Masamune". He played a samurai leader hero, making him a household name in Japan. In 1989, he collapsed while filming a movie in Canada due to leukemia, made a miraculous comeback & co-starred with Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003), which pushed him to the center stage of Hollywood. He appeared as Hiroto Katagiri in the ten-part HBO series Tokyo Vice

Aliases
  • Watanabe Ken
English 日本語
Filmography

Ashes and Snow

2005
as Japanese Narrator (voice)

Baian The Assassin

1990
as Baian Fujieda

Batman Begins

2005
as Ra's al Ghul

Bel Canto

2018
as Katsumi Hosokawa

Bruce's Fists Of Vengeance

1980

CM taimu

2012

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

2009
as Mr. Tall

Commando Invasion

1987

Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS

2002
as Okubo

Double Edge

1985
as Yoshiro

Earth

2007
as Narrator

Godzilla

2014
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Godzilla: Force of Nature

2014
as Ken Watanabe

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

2019
as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Hayabusa: Harukanaru kikan

2012
as Shunichiro Yamaguchi

Hei no naka no chûgakkô

2010

Inception

2010
as Saito

Isle of Dogs

2018
as Head Surgeon

Karate Warrior

1987
as Maestro Kimura

Kekkon annai misuterî

1985
as Funayama Tetsuya

Kensuke's Kingdom

2024
as Kensuke

Kita no zeronen

2005
as Hideaki Komatsubara

Kizuna

1998
as Detective Sako Akio

Letters from Iwo Jima

2006
as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

MacArthur's Children

1984
as Tetsuo Nakai

Machibugyo Nikki

1987
as Mochizuki Koheita

Making of 'Tampopo'

1986
as Ken Watanabe

Memoirs of a Geisha

2005
as The Chairman

Memories of Tomorrow

2006
as Masayuki Saeki

Ninja's Force

1984
as Professor

Oda Nobunaga

1992

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

2019
as Detective Yoshida

Rage

2016
as Yohei Maki

Shanghai

2010
as Tanaka

Space Travelers

2000
as Sakamaki ("Crusher")

T.R.Y.

2003
as Masanobu Azuma

Tampopo

1985
as Gun

The Creator

2023
as Harun

The King and I

2018
as The King of Siam

The Last American Soldier

1988

The Last Samurai

2003
as Katsumoto

The Memories of Happiness

2017
as Taro Miura

The Sea and Poison

1986

The Sea of Trees

2016
as Takumi Nakamura

The Unbroken

2009
as Hajime Onchi

Tokyo Vice

2022
as Hiroto Katagiri

Transformers: Age of Extinction

2014
as Drift (voice)

Transformers: The Last Knight

2017
as Drift (voice)

Unforgiven

2013
as Jubee Kamata

はやぶさ 遥かなる帰還

2012

巌流島 小次郎と武蔵

1992
as Kojiro

御家人斬九郎

1995
as 松平残九郎 / MATSUDAIRA Zankuro

池袋ウエストゲートパーク

2000
as Yokoyama

浮世の画家

2019
as 小野益次

炎立つ

1993
as Fujiwara Tsunekiyo

独眼竜政宗

1987
as 伊達政宗

白銀ジャック

2014
as Reiji kurata

砂の器 (2004)

2004
as Syuichiro Imanishi

西郷どん

2018
as Nariakira Shimazu

負けて、勝つ～戦後を創った男・吉田茂～

2012
as 吉田茂

Director

Movie Above the War 1989
Movie Passage to Hell 1988
Movie Sando and the Diplomat's Daughter 1988
Movie Wangan Midnight Final: GTR Densetsu ACT 1 1994
Movie Wangan Midnight Final: GTR Densetsu ACT 2 1994

Writer

Movie Above the War 1989
Movie Ninja's Force 1984
Movie Sando and the Diplomat's Daughter 1988

Producer

Movie Above the War 1989
Movie Hayabusa: Harukanaru kikan 2012
Movie Razors: The Return of Jack the Ripper 2016