Ken Watanabe
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is a Japanese actor. He is best known for playing
tragic hero A tragic hero (or sometimes tragic heroine if they are female) is the protagonist of a tragedy. In his ''Poetics (Aristotle), Poetics'', Aristotle records the descriptions of the tragic hero to the playwright and strictly defines the place that t ...
characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in '' Letters from Iwo Jima'' and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in ''
The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, ...
'', for which he was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in ...
. Among other awards, Watanabe has won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for '' Memories of Tomorrow'' and in 2010 for '' The Unbroken''. He is also known for his roles in
Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...
's films ''
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'' and ''
Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action heist film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by inf ...
'', as well as '' Memoirs of a Geisha'', and '' Pokémon Detective Pikachu''. In 2014, he starred in the reboot ''
Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...
'' as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, a role he reprised in the sequel, '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. He lent his voice to the fourth and fifth installments of the ''
Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...
'' franchise respectively, '' Transformers: Age of Extinction'' and '' Transformers: The Last Knight'', as Decepticon-turned-Autobot Drift. In 2022, he starred in the
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crime drama series '' Tokyo Vice''. He made his Broadway debut in April 2015 in Lincoln Center Theater's revival production of ''
The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...
'' in the title role. In 2015, Watanabe received his first
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical at the 69th Tony Awards for his role as The King. He is the first Japanese actor to be nominated in this category. Watanabe reprised his role at the
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in June 2018.


Early life

Watanabe was born on October 21, 1959, in the mountain village of Koide in
Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...
, Japan. His mother was a school teacher and his father taught
calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...
. Due to a number of relocations for his parents' work, he spent his childhood in the villages of Irihirose and Sumon, both now part of the city of Uonuma, and in Takada, now part of the city of Jōetsu. He attended Niigata Prefectural Koide High School, where he was a member of the
concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind instrument, woodwind, brass ...
club, playing
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
, which he had played since childhood. After graduation from high school, in 1978 he aimed to enter Musashino Academia Musicae, a conservatory in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. However, he had never received a formal musical education, and his father became seriously ill when he was in junior high school and was unable to work, which meant that his family could no longer afford to pay for his music lessons. Because of these problems, Watanabe was forced to give up his intention of entering the conservatory. He said of the decision: "I had to give up my musical aspirations. I realised I had no talent as a musician. But I still wanted to find a way to be creative, so I decided to try acting".


Career


Japanese roles

After graduating from high school in 1978, Watanabe moved to Tokyo to begin his acting career, by enrolling in the drama school run by the Engeki-Shudan En theatre troupe. While with the troupe, he was cast as the hero in the play ''Shimodani Mannencho Monogatari'', directed by the acclaimed Yukio Ninagawa. The role attracted critical and popular notice. In 1982, he made his first TV appearance in ''Michinaru Hanran'' (''Unknown Rebellion''), and his first appearance on TV as a samurai in ''Mibu no koiuta''. He made his feature-film debut in 1984 with '' MacArthur's Children''. Watanabe is mostly known in Japan for playing
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
, as in the 1987 '' Dokuganryu Masamune'' (''One eyed dragon,
Masamune was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the Japanese sword#Classification by School, ''Sōshū'' school. However, many ...
'') the 50-episode
NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...
taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white ''Hana no Shōgai'', starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regul ...
. He played the lead character, Matsudaira Kurō, in the television
jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...
'' Gokenin Zankurō'', which ran for several seasons. He has gone on to garner acclaim in such historical dramas as ''
Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...
'', ''
Chūshingura is the title given to fictionalized accounts in Japanese literature, theater, and film that relate to the historical incident involving the forty-seven ''rōnin'' and their mission to avenge the death of their master, Asano Naganori. Including ...
'', and the movie ''Bakumatsu Junjo Den''. In 1989, while filming
Haruki Kadokawa is a Japanese entrepreneur and filmmaker. He is the son of Genyoshi Kadokawa, the founder of the publishing company Kadokawa Shoten. He took over as president of the company in 1975 after his father's death. He entered the film industry as a pro ...
's '' Heaven and Earth'', Watanabe was diagnosed with
acute myelogenous leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may includ ...
. He returned to acting while simultaneously undergoing
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...
treatments, but in 1991 suffered a relapse. As his health improved his career picked back up. He co-starred with Kōji Yakusho in the 1998 ''Kizuna'', for which he was nominated for the
Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...
for Best Supporting Actor. In 2002, he quit the 'En' theatre group where he had his start and joined the K Dash agency. The film ''Sennen no Koi'' (''Thousand-year Love'', based on ''
The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...
'') earned him another Japanese Academy Award nomination. In 2006, he won Best Lead Actor at the 30th Japan Academy Film Prize for his role in '' Memories of Tomorrow (Ashita no Kioku)'', in which he played a patient with
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
.


International films

Watanabe was introduced to most Western audiences in the 2003 American film ''
The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, ...
'', set in 19th Century Japan. His performance as Lord Katsumoto earned him an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Watanabe appeared in the 2005 film '' Memoirs of a Geisha'', playing Chairman Iwamura. That same year, he also played the decoy of Ra's al Ghul in
Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...
's Batman film reboot, ''
Batman Begins ''Batman Begins'' is a 2005 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight trilogy), Bruce Wayne / B ...
''. In 2006, he starred in
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...
's '' Letters from Iwo Jima'', playing Tadamichi Kuribayashi. He has voiced Ra's al Ghul in the ''Batman Begins'' video game. He has filmed advertisements for
American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...
, Yakult,
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
and NTT Docomo. In 2004, he was featured in ''
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''s ''50 Most Beautiful People'' edition. In 2009, he appeared in '' The Vampire's Assistant''. In 2010, he co-starred in ''
Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action heist film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by inf ...
'', where he stars as Saito, a mark-turned-benefactor businessman of the film's heist team. In 2014, he starred in two Hollywood blockbusters ''
Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...
'' and '' Transformers: Age of Extinction''. In 2019, he starred in two other Hollywood blockbusters '' Pokémon Detective Pikachu'' and '' Godzilla: King of the Monsters''. In 2023, he returned to work with director
Gareth Edwards Gareth Edwards may refer to: *Gareth Edwards (Berkshire cricketer) (born 1973), English cricketer *Gareth Edwards (filmmaker) (born 1975), British filmmaker *Gareth Edwards (producer) (born 1965), British radio and television writer and producer *Ga ...
again in the science fiction action film '' The Creator''.


Television

Watanabe appears in '' Tokyo Vice'', a television series based on the non-fiction book by Jake Adelstein and written for television by J.T. Rogers. The ten-part series was produced by
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and is distributed by HBO Max and in Japan by Wowow. Tokyo Vice stars
Ansel Elgort Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film '' Carrie'' (2013). He gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic d ...
as Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to expose corruption. Ken is currently starring in the NHK World Japan's comedy ''You're a Genius!''. In April 2019, it was announced that Warner Bros. International Television Production and
TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...
were teaming up to remake '' The Fugitive'' (1993). Watanabe is set to star in the upcoming remake, taking place in Tokyo just before the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The broadcast date has yet to be announced.


Personal life

In 1983, Watanabe married his first wife, Yumiko. The couple had two children, a son, Dai Watanabe (born 1984), who is an actor, and a daughter Anne Watanabe (born 1986) who is an actress and fashion model. In September 2005, following two years of arbitration, he and Yumiko were divorced. In August 2008, Dai had his first child, a son, making Ken a grandfather at the age of 48. A daughter was born to Dai in March 2010. In May 2016, Watanabe's daughter gave birth to twin girls. In November 2017 she gave birth to a son, giving Watanabe five grandchildren altogether. He met his second wife, Kaho Minami, when they were both acting in a suspense drama for
TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
premiere of his film '' Sayuri'' together. Watanabe formally adopted Minami's son from her previous marriage to director Jinsei Tsuji, and for a time the three of them lived in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. In order to increase the amount of time the family could spend together, considering Ken's work requiring him to travel so much, they later returned to Japan. Initially Minami and Ken did not hold a wedding ceremony, but in 2010 they announced that they had held a ceremony on August 1 in Los Angeles. On May 17, 2018, Minami's agency announced that she and Watanabe had divorced after he had admitted to having an extramarital affair. In June 2023, Watanabe remarried for the third time, a woman who is 21 years his junior, after dating for over 9 years.


Philanthropy

On March 13, 2011, he launched a YouTube page to raise awareness about the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a  9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...
and the subsequent
Fukushima nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which ...
and invited celebrities to add their videos of the triple tragedy in Japan. In his video in English, he made a call to action to support the victims of triple disaster and to raise funds in the relief effort. In conjunction amidst the Fukushima crisis, he has also created his own website for the cause.


Health

In 1989, Watanabe was diagnosed with
acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with haematopoiesis, normal blood cell production. Sympt ...
. The cancer returned in 1994, but he later recovered. In 2006, Watanabe revealed in his
autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
''Dare? - Who Am I?'' that prior to commencing work on ''The Last Samurai'', it was discovered that he had contracted
hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...
from a blood transfusion he received while undergoing treatment for his leukemia. At a press conference held on May 23, 2006, he said he was in "good" condition but was still undergoing treatment. In 2016, while on a break from performing in a Broadway production of ''The King and I'', Watanabe was diagnosed with
stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...
. He subsequently announced on February 9, 2016, that he would postpone scheduled performances in order to undergo the necessary treatment. Due to the early diagnosis, surgery was successfully able to remove the cancer.


Filmography


Films


Television


Video games


Stage

* ''Britannicus henso''(1980) * ''Britannicus henso'' (1980) * ''Shitaya mannencho monogatari'' (1981) * ''Fuyu no raion (The Lion in Winter)'' (1981) * ''Pajaze'' (1981) * ''Platonof'' (1982) * ''Kafun netsu'' (1982) * ''Pizarro'' (1985) * ''Hamlet'' (1988) * ''Hamlet no gakuya -anten'' (2000) * ''Towa part1-kanojo'' (2000) * ''Towa part2-kanojo to kare'' (2001) * ''Dialogue with Horowitz'' (2013) * ''
The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...
'' (2015) * ''
The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...
'' (2016) * ''
The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the childr ...
'' (2018) * '' The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' (2020)


Dubbing

;Live-action ;Animation


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* *
Ken Watanabe
at the
Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

Ken Watanabe interview
at ''
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''
Ken Watanabe interview
at
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Ken 1959 births Living people 20th-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male actors Actors from Niigata Prefecture Japanese male film actors Japanese male musical theatre actors Japanese male stage actors Japanese male television actors Japanese male video game actors Japanese male voice actors Male voice actors from Niigata Prefecture Taiga drama lead actors