Ken Watanabe

Q: Has Ken Watanabe won any awards?

Yes, Ken Watanabe has received numerous awards, including the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor and a Tony Award nomination for his performance in 'The King and I'.

Q: What was Ken Watanabe's first film?

Ken Watanabe's film debut was in the 1984 movie 'The Ballad of Narayama'. This marked the beginning of his long and successful acting career.

Q: What is Ken Watanabe's estimated net worth?

Ken Watanabe's estimated net worth is around $40 million, primarily earned through his successful acting career in both Japanese and international films.

Q: What is a defining characteristic of Ken Watanabe's acting style?

Ken Watanabe is known for his deep, resonant voice and his ability to portray a wide range of emotions, often bringing a sense of gravitas to his roles.

Q: Is Ken Watanabe involved in any charitable activities?

Yes, Ken Watanabe is known for his philanthropic efforts, particularly in supporting cancer research and education initiatives in Japan.

Q: What genres does Ken Watanabe usually act in?

Ken Watanabe typically acts in drama and action genres, often portraying complex characters that reflect themes of honor, sacrifice, and identity.

Q: What notable stage performances has Ken Watanabe done?

Ken Watanabe has performed on stage in productions such as 'The King and I' on Broadway, showcasing his talents beyond film and television.

Known for

Inception (2010)

2010 / Action, Adventure / 148mins

Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life...

The Last Samurai (2003)

IMDb 7.8 / 10

2003 / Action, Adventure / 147mins

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the...

Batman Begins (2005)

IMDb 8.2 / 10

2005 / Action, Adventure / 140 min

Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work...

Name

Ken Watanabe

Height

6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)

Born

21 October 1959, Koide, Niigata, Japan

Spouses

Kaho Minami (2005–2012)

Children

2 children (names not publicly disclosed)

Parents

Isamu Watanabe, Kiyoko Watanabe

Estimated Net Worth

$40 million

Year	Title	Character	Rating
2026	Movie Samurai Vengeance In January 1810 in Edo, Kikunosuke, the 17-year-old-son of a murdered samurai, takes revenge on his father's murderer, Sakubai, who...	Kinji Shinoda	TMDB 8.8 / 10
2026	TV Kyotojin no Hisokana Tanoshimi Rouge: Keisho After years in Paris, former wagashi heiress Miyako Sawafuji returns as illness threatens her Kyoto family. Between centuries-old tradition and...	東雲朔太郎	Not rated
2025	Movie The Final Piece Keisuke, a 10-year-old boy, living hard despite being abused by his father, finds a ray of light in the midst...	Shigeyoshi Toumyo	TMDB 9.4 / 10
2025	Movie LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER To mark the opening of a new Cartier boutique in Tokyo's Ginza district, the French fashion house presented a seven-minute...	Unknown character	Not rated
2025	Movie Kokuho Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his Yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wings of a famous Kabuki...	Hanjiro Hanai	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2025	TV Unbound In 18th-century Edo, Tsutaya Juzaburo rises from a poor background to become a leading publisher. Despite political changes threatening his...	Tamema Okitsugu	TMDB 9.3 / 10
2025	TV TRUE COLORS A top fashion photographer who, after being diagnosed with a life-altering illness, must overcome overwhelming challenges and find hope and...	Taichirou Tsujimura	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2024	Movie All Lives TV Tokyo's 60th anniversary special drama. This is a human drama about a doctor struggling with his life and a...	Unknown character	TMDB 6.7 / 10
2024	Movie Kensuke's Kingdom A young boy and his family set off on a sailing trip of a lifetime until a violent storm erupts,...	Kensuke (voice)	TMDB 7.2 / 10
2023	Movie True Love: Making The Creator Join director Gareth Edwards and crew for nearly an hour look behind the scenes. Hear from actors about the filming...	Self	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2023	Movie The Creator Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving...	Harun	TMDB 7.0 / 10
2022	TV Tokyo Vice A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the...	Hiroto Katagiri	TMDB 7.9 / 10
2020	TV Alice in Borderland With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete...	Old Gentleman	TMDB 8.1 / 10
2020	TV Toubousha A remake of the American show "The Fugitive." After performing emergency surgery, elite doctor Kazuki Kakurai returns home to find...	Unknown character	TMDB 7.0 / 10
2020	Movie 劇場の灯を消すな！PARCO劇場編	Unknown character	TMDB 7.0 / 10
2020	Movie Fukushima 50 Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan risk their lives and stay at the nuclear power plant to prevent...	Masao Yoshida	TMDB 6.5 / 10
2019	Movie Godzilla: King of the Monsters Follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters,...	Dr. Ishiro Serizawa	TMDB 6.7 / 10
2019	Movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent monster who...	Lieutenant Hide Yoshida	TMDB 6.9 / 10
2019	Movie An Artist of the Floating World In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely...	Ono Masuji	Not rated
2018	Movie The King and I Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many children of the stubborn...	The King of Siam	TMDB 7.0 / 10
2018	Movie Bel Canto A famous opera singer is held hostage in South America by a guerrilla rebel group after performing at a Japanese...	Katsumi Hosokawa	TMDB 5.5 / 10
2018	Movie Isle of Dogs In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to...	Head Surgeon (voice)	TMDB 7.8 / 10
2018	Movie 7 Guardians of the Tomb An innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China unearths a 2000 year old nightmare - a...	Father	TMDB 5.3 / 10
2018	TV Segodon Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain...	Shimazu Nariakira	TMDB 8.3 / 10
2017	TV NHK WORLD PRIME NHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special select programs on...	Self - Presenter	TMDB 9.0 / 10
2017	Movie Transformers: The Last Knight Humans and Transformers are at war. Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the...	Drift (voice)	TMDB 6.1 / 10
2017	Movie Dirty, Clean, & Inbetween Dirty, Clean and Inbetween is a Sex and The City for guys, with a delightful mix of Entourage, Suits and...	Restaurant Patron	Not rated
2017	Movie The Memories of Happiness Taro's business failed and he got divorced. He also left his family's home. 5 years later, his oldest daughter Natsumi,...	Taro Miura	Not rated
2016	TV 五年目のひとり	키자키 슈지	Not rated
2016	Movie Rage A man brutally murders a married couple and leaves the word “ikari” (“rage”) written with their blood. The killer undergoes...	Yohei Maki	TMDB 6.8 / 10
2016	Movie The Sea of Trees In Japan's Aokigahara Forest, a troubled teacher meets a mysterious lost stranger who takes him on a life-changing journey of...	Takumi Nakamura	TMDB 6.2 / 10
2015	TV The Secret Lives of Kyoto Folk The series depicts "Kyoto as Kyoto people love it" in dramas and documentaries.	東雲朔太郎	TMDB 8.8 / 10
2014	Movie Evolution Within Extinction The definitive feature-length documentary on the creation of "Transformers: Age of Extinction".	Self	TMDB 7.7 / 10
2014	Movie Snow Jack A blackmail arrives at Appi ski resort. “We demand 30,000,000 yen as consolation money for the destruction of the environment....	Reiji Kurata	Not rated
2014	TV Back of Father A 10-part omnibus drama by 10 different scriptwriters on the theme of fathers and their sons and daughters.	Takamura Kouji	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2014	Movie Transformers: Age of Extinction As humanity picks up the pieces after the battle of Chicago, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to...	Drift (voice)	TMDB 6.0 / 10
2014	Movie Godzilla Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to...	Dr. Ishiro Serizawa	TMDB 6.4 / 10
2013	Movie Unforgiven An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down bandits who mutilated...	Jubee Kamata	TMDB 7.0 / 10
2012	Movie Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home In May 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (or JAXA) launched an unmanned spacecraft of their own development to retrieve...	Junichiro Kawaguchi	TMDB 6.4 / 10
2011	TV Gyoretsuno dekiru sodanjo	Regular	Not rated
2011	Movie Ai inochi - Shinjuku Kabukicho Kakekomi Dera - Japanese TV movie	Unknown character	Not rated
2010	Movie A School Behind Bars "A School Behind Bars" centers around Asahi Junior High School, which is located within Nagano Matsumoto Boy's prison in Matsumoto...	Unknown character	TMDB 10.0 / 10
2010	Movie Inception Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to...	Saito	TMDB 8.4 / 10
2010	Movie Shanghai An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been...	Tanaka	TMDB 6.1 / 10
2009	Movie Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant When Darren Shan is taken to a circus that's chock-full of sideshow oddities, he meets a vampire and receives a...	Mr. Tall	TMDB 5.9 / 10
2009	Movie The Unbroken Onchi was exiled to posts around Asia and Africa due to his work as head of a labor union for...	Hajime Onchi	TMDB 6.7 / 10
2009	TV 刑事一代平塚八兵衛の昭和事件史	Unknown character	Not rated
2007	Movie Earth An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in EARTH. Disneynature...	Narrator (voice)	TMDB 7.6 / 10
2007	Movie 星ひとつの夜 Janitor Hiroharu Nonoyama (Ken Watanabe) discovers a coat filled with cash while working. The coat belongs to Daiki Iwasaki (Hiroshi...	Nonoyama Hiroji	Not rated
2007	Movie Red Sun, Black Sand: The Making of 'Letters from Iwo Jima' Documentary on the making of Clint Eastwood's film 'Letters from Iwo Jima'.	Self	Not rated
2006	Movie Letters from Iwo Jima The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as...	General Tadamichi Kuribayashi	TMDB 7.5 / 10
2006	Movie Memories of Tomorrow After being stricken with Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life, a successful young businessman slips slowly away from...	Masayuki Saeki	TMDB 6.1 / 10
2005	Movie Memoirs of a Geisha In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a...	Le président	TMDB 7.6 / 10
2005	Movie Batman Begins Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham...	Ra's al Ghul	TMDB 7.7 / 10
2005	Movie Ashes and Snow Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans...	Japanese Narrator (voice)	TMDB 7.2 / 10
2005	Movie Year One in the North In 1868, after the fall of the Shogun-dominated Japan, the new government orders people from Awaji, near Kobe, to re-locate...	Komatsubara Hideaki	TMDB 5.7 / 10
2004	TV Vessel of Sand Eiryo Waga is well-known musician who has begun a rapid climb to stardom, but he must keep his terrible past...	Shuichiro Imanishi	TMDB 4.0 / 10
2003	TV 川、いつか海へ 6つの愛の物語 NHK's 50th-anniversary memorial drama serial. This drama consisting of several short stories starring some of the well-known actors and actress...	Unknown character	Not rated
2003	Movie The Last Samurai Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him...	Moritsugu Katsumoto	TMDB 7.6 / 10
2003	Movie 第三の時効	Unknown character	Not rated
2003	Movie Another Battle/Conspiracy Katsunori Takahashi and Ken Watanabe star in a modern yakuza tale in the classic Japanese film series, Battles Without Honor...	Fujimaki Hiroaki	Not rated
2003	TV 藤田宜永サスペンス「異端の夏」	Unknown character	Not rated
2003	Movie T.R.Y. At the turn of the 20th Century amongst tension between China and Japan, a Japanese swindler in Shanghai plans to...	Masanobu Azuma	TMDB 7.2 / 10
2002	TV Mibu Gishiden: Shinsengumi de Ichiban Tsuyokatta Otoko Based on the novel by Jirō Asada, the TV movie depicts the lives of the Shinsengumi warriors during the turmoil...	Unknown character	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2002	TV 横山秀夫サスペンスシリーズ (TBS)	Unknown character	Not rated
2002	TV 強行犯捜査第七係	Unknown character	Not rated
2002	Movie Dawn of a New Day: The Man Behind VHS A Japanese film that tells the tale of the birth of VHS. It follows Kagatani Shizuo, an electronics employee who...	Okubo	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2001	Movie Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji Set in 900AD and tells the story of a famous female writer of the time, Murasaki Shikibu. Her story begins...	Unknown character	TMDB 5.9 / 10
2001	Movie Drowning Fish When corporate executives are blackmailed into public displays of nudity on the busy streets of Shinjuku, the big guns are...	Miyota	TMDB 7.7 / 10
2001	TV Hojo Tokimune The 40th NHK Taiga Drama is Hojo Tokimune. It tells the dramatic and turbulent life of young shikken Hojo Tokimune,...	Hojo Tokiyori	TMDB 8.0 / 10
2000	Movie The Whispered City Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with...	Ishida	TMDB 9.0 / 10
2000	TV Ikebukuro West Gate Park Living in Ikebukuro — an area infamous for juvenile crime, 21-year-old Makoto Majima becomes associated with a youth gang called...	Yokoyama	TMDB 7.4 / 10
2000	Movie Space Travelers Three bank robbers, who declare themselves to be Space Travelers, take six persons as hostages when they are surrounded by...	Sakamaki ("Crusher")	TMDB 6.1 / 10
1998	TV Shimei Tehai Detective TV specials starring Ken Watanabe as a detective in search of wanted suspects.	Unknown character	Not rated
1998	Movie Bonds Tetsuro Haga is a troubled gangster, living under the assumed identity Ise for ten years, to escape jail for gunning...	Detective Sako Akio	TMDB 5.6 / 10
1997	Movie Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald A love story written by an ordinary housewife is going to be broadcast as a radio drama and almost everyone...	Raita Onuki	TMDB 7.7 / 10
1995	TV Gokenin Zankuro Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to moonlight as a bodyguard and executioner...	Zankuro Matsudaira	TMDB 8.0 / 10
1993	Movie Baian the Assassin: Showdown Fujieda Baian is admired during the day as a skilled acupuncturist. However, at night, he is a highly skilled assassin,...	Dr. Baian	Not rated
1993	TV The Fire Still Burns This drama tells the story of the Oushu Fujiwara clan spanning generations, 140 years in the late Heian era. They...	Fujiwara Tsunekiyo	Not rated
1993	TV Kagi-shi A locksmith who can open any kind of lock with his well-honed fingertip skills is caught up in a case...	Unknown character	Not rated
1993	Movie Hanzo, the Razor During Tenpo period, Bakuhu announced a law regulating expenditures in order to improve the financial situation. However, Doshin of a...	Unknown character	Not rated
1992	Movie Chronicle of the Town Magistrate In a maelstrom of evil, can a new magistrate, samurai Mochizuki Koheita, with a reputation like an alley cat, bring...	Mochizuki Koheita	Not rated
1992	TV Waga Machi Based on Ed McBain's "87th Precinct" series. The drama series is set in Tsukishima, a popular town near downtown Tokyo,...	Unknown character	Not rated
1992	TV Izakaya Chōji The special drama depicts the sad and joyful life of a single-minded izakaya owner in a small yakitori restaurant.	Unknown character	Not rated
1992	Movie Oda Nobunaga Among the great ‘Warlords’ in Japanese history, Oda Nobunaga holds a unique place. In effect, his military success led to...	Unknown character	TMDB 8.0 / 10
1992	Movie Ganryujima: Kojiro and Musashi In the 16th Year of Keityo (1611), the lord of Ogura Castle in Kyushu admitted Sasaki Kojiro's because of his...	Kojirō	TMDB 8.5 / 10
1991	TV Baian the Assassin During the day, Dr. Baian is the friendly and trusted village acupuncturist. At night, he becomes Baian, the assassin. Using...	Fujieda Baian	TMDB 10.0 / 10
1991	Movie A Naive History of the Bakumatsu Era In the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, there was a cute warrior, Souji Okita, who belonged to the armed...	Ryoma Sakamoto	TMDB 7.5 / 10
1991	Movie Takeda Shingen During the 16th century, Japan was involved in the Sengoku Period, an era of civil wars and the powerful warlords...	Narrator	Not rated
1990	Movie Baian the Assassin Fujieda Baian is admired during the day as a skilled acupuncturist. However, his nighttime persona is that of a highly...	Dr. Baian	Not rated
1990	TV Musuko no Gokikan Daisuke Ogaki, who ran away from home 11 years ago, returns to his mother Tsuru. Tsuru takes out her accumulated...	Unknown character	Not rated
1990	TV Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen	Unknown character	TMDB 9.5 / 10
1989	TV Oda Nobunaga	Unknown character	Not rated
1987	TV Masamune Shogun Broadcast TV drama NHK broadcast on January 4 to December 13, 1987 (Showa 62). In the questionnaire survey conducted by...	伊達政宗	TMDB 9.0 / 10
1987	Movie Commando Invasion The leader of a group of American commandos has 5 days to kidnap a VC General to prove his innocence...	Unknown character	TMDB 6.8 / 10
1986	Movie The Sea and Poison Two interns and a nurse are interrogated by American MPs for their involvement in an atrocity during the war: the...	Toda	TMDB 7.1 / 10
1986	TV Hanekonma Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her sister and brother, and her grandparents,...	Genzo Onodera	TMDB 8.0 / 10
1986	Movie The Making of "Tampopo" Documentary about the making of Juzo Itami's film "Tampopo" (1985).	Self	Not rated
1985	Movie Tampopo In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop...	Gun	TMDB 7.8 / 10
1985	Movie Kekkon Annai Mystery A 19-year-old girl Hiroko Terasawa working in a matching agency promises her client Masakazu Sekine that she'll pose as his...	Unknown character	TMDB 8.8 / 10
1984	Movie MacArthur's Children In this drama at the end of World War II, the inhabitants of a small Japanese fishing village must come...	Tetsuo Nakai	TMDB 5.5 / 10
1984	TV A Tale of Two Truncheons Based on Kazuo Koike's extensive manga (over 110 volumes), this Edo-period drama follows an unlikely pair of law enforcement officers....	Unknown character	Not rated

Year	Title	Role	Rating
2022	TV Tokyo Vice A first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat following Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the...	Executive Producer Production	TMDB 7.9 / 10
2012	Movie Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home In May 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (or JAXA) launched an unmanned spacecraft of their own development to retrieve...	Production Manager Production	TMDB 6.4 / 10
2006	Movie Memories of Tomorrow After being stricken with Alzheimer's disease in the prime of his life, a successful young businessman slips slowly away from...	Executive Producer Production	TMDB 6.1 / 10
1989	Movie Harimao A movie about Yutaka Tani, also known as " Malay Tiger Harimao, " who was active on the Malay Peninsula...	Producer Production	TMDB 8.0 / 10

Samurai Vengeance

2026 / TMDB 8.8

The Final Piece

2025 / TMDB 9.4

LA PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER

2025

Kokuho

2025 / TMDB 8.0

All Lives

2024 / TMDB 6.7

Kensuke's Kingdom

2024 / TMDB 7.2

See All

Best Mystery Movies to Watch Now

Uncover thrilling plots and hidden secrets with the best mystery movies to watch—gripping whodunits and suspenseful stories streaming today!

Best G Rated Movies for Families

Enjoy family time with the best G rated movies — heartwarming classics, animated adventures and fun films everyone can watch together, kids to grandparents!

Best Action Movies Streaming Now

Discover the best action movies now. Find top hits, explosive adventures, and must-watch blockbusters for your next movie night!

Best Thriller Movies to Keep You Hooked

We’ve carefully selected the top 20 best thriller movies, all available to stream right now, and ranked them by their IMDb ratings.

Best movies on Disney Plus to watch this month

From superhero blockbusters to the Star Wars franchise and the best animations by Pixar, there's plenty of best movies on Disney Plus to watch.

The Creator: TV release date and where to watch in Australia

Watch the new sci-fi thriller starring John David Washington; The Creator is now streaming in Australia!

Got a question about Ken Watanabe?

What are some of Ken Watanabe's most successful films?

Ken Watanabe has starred in several successful films, including 'The Last Samurai', 'Inception', and 'Godzilla'. His performances in these films have earned him critical acclaim and a global fan base.

Has Ken Watanabe won any awards?

What was Ken Watanabe's first film?

What is Ken Watanabe's estimated net worth?

What is a defining characteristic of Ken Watanabe's acting style?

Is Ken Watanabe involved in any charitable activities?

What genres does Ken Watanabe usually act in?

What notable stage performances has Ken Watanabe done?