Highest rated as cast or director
Tampopo
1985
Inception
2010
Tokyo Vice
2022 · 2 Seasons
Ikebukuro West Gate Park
2000 · 1 Season
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.
Acted in 91
2020s
- 2026
Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho
東雲朔太郎 · 9 episodes
- 2025
LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER
Movie
TRUE COLORS
Taichirou Tsujimura · 9 episodes
- 2024
- 2023
- 2022
- 2020
Toubousha
TV
劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編
Movie
2010s
- 2019
An Artist of the Floating World
Ono Masuji
- 2018
The King and I
The King of Siam
- 2017
Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween
Restaurant Patron
The Memories of Happiness
Taro Miura
- 2016
五年目のひとり
키자키 슈지 · 1 episode
- 2015
The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk
東雲朔太郎 · 9 episodes
- 2014
Snow Jack
Reiji Kurata
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo
Regular · 1 episode
Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera -
Movie
- 2010
A School Behind Bars
Movie
2000s
- 2009
- 2007
星ひとつの夜
Nonoyama Hiroji
- 2006
- 2005
Ashes and Snow
Japanese Narrator (voice)
- 2004
Vessel of Sand
Shuichiro Imanishi · 11 episodes
- 2003
川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語
TV
第三の時効
Movie
- 2002
Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko
TV
横山秀夫サスペンス シリーズ (TBS)
TV
- 2001
Hojo Tokimune
Hojo Tokiyori · 49 episodes
- 2000
1990s
- 1998
Bonds
Detective Sako Akio
- 1997
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
Raita Onuki
- 1995
Gokenin Zankuro
Zankuro Matsudaira · 8 episodes
- 1993
Baian the Assassin: Showdown
Dr. Baian
The Fire Still Burns
Fujiwara Tsunekiyo · 35 episodes
Kagi-shi
TV
Hanzo, the Razor
Movie
- 1992
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate
Mochizuki Koheita
Waga Machi
TV
Izakaya Chōji
TV
Oda Nobunaga
Movie
Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi
Kojirō
- 1991
Baian the Assassin
Fujieda Baian · 5 episodes
- 1990
Baian the Assassin
Dr. Baian
Musuko no Gokikan
TV
1980s
- 1987
Commando Invasion
Movie
- 1986
- 1985
- 1984
A Tale of Two Truncheons
TV
No release date
あなたが欲しい－I WANT YOU－
TV
Produced 4
2020s
- 2022
2000s
- 2006
1980s
- 1989
Harimao
Producer
Appearances8
2020s
- 2026
Yamazaki Riverside - Over an Actor's Shoulder -
Self
- 2023
True Love: Making The Creator
Self
2010s
- 2017
NHK WORLD PRIME
Self - Presenter · 1 episode
- 2014
Evolution Within Extinction
Self
2000s
- 2007
Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima'
Self
1990s
- 1991
Takeda Shingen
Narrator
1980s
- 1986
The Making of "Tampopo"
Self