• Movie Grid for Nov. 13

  Sun Herald - Found Nov. 13, 2009 Salma Hayek, Ken Watanabe, and Orlando Jones co-star for director Chris Weitz (?American Pie?), whose brother Paul is busy with vampires...

• A Guide to Tom Cruise Films: The Top 10 Tom Cruise Movies

  Associated Content - Found Nov. 11, 2009 Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) becomes captured by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe). P.J. Thomas: Cruisin' is easy - & less expensive - Philadelphia Inquirer Go Guide: A ShipRocked Cruise - South Florida Sun-Sentinel P.J. Thomas: Cruisin' is easy - & less expensive - Philly.com Explore All

• FIA seeks legal review of Toyota's F1 exit

  Mainichi Daily News - Found Nov. 5, 2009 ... resembling fugitive wanted over Briton's killing underwent plastic surgery Photos: Autumn scenes across Japan Ken Watanabe's new movie waters...

• Toyota pulls out for Formula One for 2010

  Mainichi Daily News - Found Nov. 5, 2009 ... resembling fugitive wanted over Briton's killing underwent plastic surgery Photos: Autumn scenes across Japan Ken Watanabe's new movie waters...

• Get your freak on

  Tahoe.com - Found Oct. 29, 2009 Starring Chris Massoglia, John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Ray Stevenson, Willem Dafoe, Ken Watanabe, Salma Hayek, Jessica Carlson, Ray... 'Cirque du Freak' a vampire Frankenstein - KFDM-TV Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant - Webster-Kirkwood Times IBSYS.media.ImgLoader.delayView({ el: 'img_N312E3121.19FA', imgs: ... - Champlain Channel Explore All

• Cirque du Freak: The Vampire?s Assistant

  Los Angeles Times - Found Oct. 31, 2009 Boy Daniel Newman as Pete Morgan Saylor as Annie Don McManus as Mr. Shan Colleen Camp as Mrs. Shan Ken Watanabe as Mr. Tall Salma Hayek as... Vampire Wars (w/ Bonus Twilight Round): Who's the Best Good Vampire? - EOnline.com Vampire Wars (w/ Bonus Twilight Round): Who's the Best Good Vampire? - E! Online Bloodthirsty for Profits - FOXNews.com Genre continues to vamp it up - Toronto Star Online Explore All

• 'Imaginarium' magic at overseas B.O.

  Variety - Found Oct. 30, 2009 Film, starring Ken Watanabe as a dedicated company employee who helps root out corruption in the top executive ranks, also hopes to reach $20...

• Luxury brands losing out to budget apparel chains

  Mainichi Daily News - Found Nov. 2, 2009 Ken Watanabe's new movie waters down social criticism of corporate corruption A haven for the harassed tourist: Historical hiking in Shiga n...

• Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

  Arlington Catholic Herald - Found Oct. 28, 2009 ... the traveling sideshow of the title ? populated by a beard-sprouting lady (Salma Hayek), a Japanese giant (Ken Watanabe) and the like ? is...

• Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

  Mississauga News - Found Oct. 27, 2009 ... sideshow filled with monstrous creatures from a snakeboy and a wolfman to a bearded lady (Salma Hayek) and a gigantic barker (Ken Watanabe).

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) (Find sources: Ken Watanabe – news, books, scholar)

Ken Watanabe (渡辺 謙)
Ken Watanabe in 2007
Born	October 21, 1959 (1959-10-21) (age 50) Koide, Niigata, Japan
Years active	1984 - present
Spouse(s)	Yumiko Watanabe (div.2005) Kaho Minami (2005-)

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 in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Japanese roles

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) theater 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), where he played a patient with Alzheimer's Disease.

American films

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.

Personal life

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.

Filmography

Stage

• 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)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Ken Watanabe at the Internet Movie Database
• USA Today Interview
• About.com Interview
• Watanabe Ken's JMDb Listing (in Japanese)
• Ken Watanabe profile on Hoga Central