Ken Watanabe

Ken Watanabe, born October 21, 1959, is a distinguished Japanese actor known for his tragic hero roles in English-speaking audiences, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai. His performance in the latter earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in Christopher Nolan's films Batman Begins and Inception, and other notable films such as Memoirs of a Geisha, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu. Watanabe reprised his role in Godzilla: King of the Monsters after first appearing in the reboot Godzilla as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa. He also lent his voice in the fourth and fifth installments of the Transformers franchise. Watanabe kicked off his television stint in the HBO Max crime drama series Tokyo Vice in 2022. He debuted on Broadway in April 2015 in Lincoln Center Theater's revival production of The King and I, for which he earned his first Tony Award nomination. His early life was spent in the mountain village of Koide in Niigata Prefecture, Japan where his elementary education was shaped by his schoolteacher mother and calligrapher father. After abandoning his initial dream of becoming a musician due to financial constraints, he moved to Tokyo to pursue an acting career. He first appeared in movies in 1984, and since then he has earned numerous acting accolades including winning the Best Actor prize twice at the Japan Academy Film Prize.