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| Full Name: | Ken Watanabe |
| Birth Name: | Kensaku Watanabe |
| Famous As: | Actor |
| Date of Birth: | October 21, 1959 |
| Place of Birth: | Koide, Niigata, Japan |
| Height: | 6' 0? |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Spouse: | Yumiko Watanabe (? - April 2005), Kaho Minami (since December 3, 2005) |
| Son(s): | Shin Shinitiro (b. August 1, 1984) |
| Daughter(s): | An Watanabe (b. 1986) |
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Description: (Also credited as Watanabe Ken
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Description: Ken Watanabe joins John Cusack
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Description: InTylerWeTrust82 8 26 09,
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Description: Ken Watanabe at the 10th
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Description: Ken Watanabe
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Description: ken Watanabe
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Description: Ken Watanabe
Title: APA interview with Ken Watanabe 07
Description: Famous for his roles in The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha, Ken Watanabe most recently acted and produced the acclaimed Japanese film ...
![video This is probably the best Ken Watanabe homage here on YouTube. The lyrics of the song are these: "Warriors pride" by Rhapsody The ... Picture](../viewVideo.html?title=☆Ken Watanabe 渡辺謙☆&videoType=YouTube&summary=This is probably the best Ken Watanabe homage here on YouTube. The lyrics of the song are these: "Warriors pride" by Rhapsody The ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/YKkkZGCVRuM&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://3.gvt0.com/vi/YKkkZGCVRuM/default.jpg&celebrity=Ken Watanabe)
Title: ☆Ken Watanabe 渡辺謙☆
Description: This is probably the best Ken Watanabe homage here on YouTube. The lyrics of the song are these: "Warriors pride" by Rhapsody The ...
 1&videoType=YouTube&summary=Director: Sadao Nakajima Cast: Ken Watanabe Yûko Natori Hikaru Kurosaki Hiroyuki Sanada Rino Katase Miyuki Kanou Saburô Shinoda Hiroki Matsukata ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/fJantYB1Qz0&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://1.gvt0.com/vi/fJantYB1Qz0/default.jpg&celebrity=Ken Watanabe)
Title: Oda Nobunaga (1989) 1
Description: Director: Sadao Nakajima Cast: Ken Watanabe Yûko Natori Hikaru Kurosaki Hiroyuki Sanada Rino Katase Miyuki Kanou Saburô Shinoda Hiroki Matsukata ...
Title: Ken Watanabe Ride a Bike
Description: Live Earth 07.07.07 PSA
Title: SKYLINE CM Ken Watanabe & Ichiro Ver
Description: It is CM of Nissan Skyline.
Title: Ken Watanabe Presentation
Description: Just something I did for Elementary Japanese 101....
Title: Ken Watanabe Live Earth PSA
Description: Some of the hottest celebrities are talking about and taking action on solving the climate crisis. Theyre asking you to take action too ...
Title: Canon EOS 50D Digital Camera Ken Watanabe DSLR www.OfficialCameraBlog.com
Description: www.officialcamerablog.com Canons new EOS 50D bridges the gap between the novice and the seasoned pro with a perfect combination of high speed and ...
TOP 7 Anticipated Films of 2010 Scorecard Review Assisting him in presenting his original script is Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, ... |
 The Film Stage (blog) | DiCaprio Hints 'Inception' Will Be Surreal The Film Stage (blog) The film also stars Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, and Ken Watanabe. It takes on psychoanalysis and dream monitoring in a sci-fi ... |
Alicia Keys makes 30 minute Billboard appearance CNNGo.com The event brought out some of fashion and music's top names, such as models Jessica Michibata, Ken Watanabe's daughter Anne and singers Mika Nakashima and ... |
 Coventry Telegraph (blog) | Bigger than Batman: Christopher Nolan says 'Inception' is 'the biggest ... Los Angeles Times (blog) Leonardo DiCaprio leads a cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and Ken Watanabe. ... Nolan Says 'Inception' is Bigger Than Batman Nolan Talks 'Inception' |
Poll: Kamala Harris Is AG Front-Runner -- Until Pollster Starts Talking Dirty SF Weekly (blog) Perhaps Lieu needs a little more recognition. After all, that's not him in the photo atop this story. It's actor Ken Watanabe. |
Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Inquirer.net Cast as the mysterious Mr. Tall, the Cirque's owner and operator, was Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, known to most Western audiences from his Oscar-nominated ... |
'The Vampire's Assistant,' a fantasy-adventure film Manila Bulletin ... a Snake Boy (Patrick Fugit of ?Saved?) and a Wolfman to the bearded Madame Truska (Salma Hayek) and a gigantic barker named Mr. Tall (Ken Watanabe). ... |
 pride source.com | Deep Inside Hollywood pride source.com ... has something to do with blackmail and, well, who knows what else, really, but also co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard and Ken Watanabe. ... |
 /FILM (blog) | Leonardo DiCaprio Says Inception ?Didn't Make Sense to Many of Us When We Were ... /FILM (blog) Ken Watanabe will play the film's villain, a man named Saito, who is blackmailing DiCaprio's character. Tom Hardy (Bronson) plays Eames, ... |
 Alt Film Guide (blog) | INCEPTION, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, SHUTTER ISLAND: Most Anticipated 2010 ... Alt Film Guide (blog) ... above top photo), Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, and Tom Berenger. ... |
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Ken Watanabe
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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008) |
| Ken Watanabe 渡辺 謙 |
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 Ken Watanabe in 2007 |
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| Born | October 21, 1959 Koide, Niigata, Japan |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1979—present |
| Spouse(s) | Yumiko Watanabe (div. 2005) Kaho Minami (2005—present) |
Ken Watanabe (渡辺 謙 Watanabe Ken) (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 Moritsu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
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After graduating from high school in 1978, Watanabe moved to Tokyo to begin his acting career, getting his big break with the Tokyo-based theater troupe En. While with the troupe, he was cast as the hero in the play Shimodani Mannencho Monogatari, under Yukio Ninagawa's direction. 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, as in the 1987 Dokuganryu Masamune (One eyed dragon, Masamune) the 50-episode NHK drama for which he is now best known. He played the lead character, Matsudaira Kurō, in the television jidaigeki Gokenin Zankurō, which ran for several seasons. He has gone on to earn acclaim in such historical dramas as Oda Nobunaga, Chushingura, and the movie Bakumatsu Junjo Den.
In 1989, while filming Haruki Kadokawa's Heaven and Earth, Watanabe was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. He returned to acting while simultaneously undergoing chemotherapy treatments, but in 1991 suffered a relapse.
As his health improved his career picked back up. He co-starred with Koji Yakusho in the 1998 Kizuna, for which he was nominated for the Japanese Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2002, he quit the En (Engeki-Shudan 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) earned him another Japanese Academy Award nomination.
In 2006, he finally won Best Lead Actor at the Japanese Academy Awards for his role in Memories of Tomorrow (Ashita no Kioku), in which he played a patient with Alzheimer's Disease.
Watanabe was introduced to most Western audiences with the 2003 film The Last Samurai for which his performance as Katsumoto earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Watanabe also appeared in the 2005 films Batman Begins as Ra's Al Ghul's Decoy and Memoirs of a Geisha, where he played The Chairman. In 2006, he starred in Clint Eastwood's film Letters from Iwo Jima. He also reprised his role of Ra's Al Ghul's Decoy in Batman Begins The Video game. He has also filmed advertisements for American Express and Yakult, and in 2004, he was featured in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People edition.
Watanabe was born in Koide, Niigata prefecture; his mother was a school teacher and his father taught calligraphy.1 In 2006, Watanabe revealed in his newly-published autobiography "Dare? - Who Am I?" that he has Hepatitis C virus. At a PR event held on May 23, 2006 in Tokyo's Ginza district, he said he was in good condition, but was still undergoing treatment.2 His daughter is fashion model Anne Watanabe.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | MacArthur's Children | Tetsuo Nakai | |
| Bruce's Fists of Vengeance | |||
| 1985 | 9 Deaths of the Ninja | Sensei | |
| Kekkon Annai Mystery (結婚案内ミステリー Kekkon Annai Misuterī) |
Funayama Tetsuya/Masakazu Sekine | ||
| 1986 | The Sea and Poison (海と毒薬 Umi to Dokuyaku) |
Toda | |
| Tampopo | Gun | ||
| 1987 | Karate Warrior (Il ragazzo dal kimono d'oro) |
Master Kimura | |
| Commando Invasion | |||
| 1988 | Karate Warrior 2 (Il ragazzo dal kimono d'oro 2) |
Master Kimura | |
| 1989 | Violent Zone | Old Mishima | |
| 1998 | Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald | Raita Onuki, Truck Driver | |
| 2000 | Space Travellers (スペーストラベラーズ Supēsu toraberāzu) |
Sakamaki | |
| 2000 | Ikebukuro West Gate Park |
Inspector Yokoyama | TV series |
| 2001 | Genji: A Thousand-Year Love (千年の恋 ～ひかる源氏物語 Sennen no koi - Hikaru Genji Monogatari) |
Fujiwara Michinaga/Fujiwara Nobutaka | |
| 2003 | The Last Samurai | Katsumoto Moritsu | |
| T.R.Y. | Masanobu Azuma | ||
| 2004 | Castle of Sand (砂の器 Suna no utsuwa) |
Shūichirō Imanishi | TV series |
| 2005 | Memoirs of a Geisha | The Chairman | |
| Batman Begins | Ra's al Ghul's Decoy | ||
| Year One in the North (北の零年 Kita no zeronen) |
Hideaki Komatsubara | ||
| 2006 | Memories of Tomorrow (明日の記憶 Ashita no Kioku) |
Masayuki Saeki | first starring role |
| Letters from Iwo Jima | General Tadamichi Kuribayashi | ||
| 2009 | Shizumanu Taiyo | In Cinemas | |
| Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant | Mr. Tall | ||
| 2010 | Shanghai | In post-production | |
| Inception | In post-production |
| Year | Organization | Award | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Elandor Awards | Newcomer Award | Umi to Dokuyaku | Won |
| 1999 | Japanese Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Kizuna | Nominated3 |
| 2002 | Japan Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Sennen no Koi Story of Genji | Nominated3 |
| 2003 | Japan Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Hi Wa Mata Noboru | Nominated3 |
| Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | The Last Samurai | Nominated3 | |
| 2004 | Academy Awardss | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Blue Ribbon Awards | Special Award | Won3 | ||
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated3 | ||
| Television Drama Academy Awards (Winter) | Best Supporting Actor | Suna no Utsuwa | Won4 | |
| 2006 | Hochi Film Awards | Best Actor | Memories of Tomorrow | Won3 |
| Nikkan Sports Film Awards | Best Actor | Won3 | ||
| 2007 | Blue Ribbon Awards | Best Actor | Won5 | |
| Japan Academy Awards | Best Actor | Won6 | ||
| Fujimoto Prize | Special Prize | Won7 | ||
| Kinema Junpo Awards | Best Actor | Won8 | ||
| 2009 | Hochi Film Awards | Best Actor | Shizumanu Taiyo | Won9 |
| 2010 | Japan Academy Awards | Best Actor | Won10 |
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