Ken Watanabe Biography

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 Kur?, in the television jidaigeki Gokenin Zankur?, which ran for several seasons. The American-produced The Last Samurai is his fourth such depiction, although he has also played gangsters, businessmen and a general in other works. 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 Ten to Chi to (Heaven and Earth) in Calgary, Watanabe was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. He returned to acting while simultaneously undergoing chemotherapy treatments, but in 1994 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 won a Japanese Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Watanabe had ignored his finances, leaving them entirely to his wife. In 2001 he announced at a press conference that his 170million home had been repossessed and that he was heavily in debt.

In 2002, he quit the En (Enegki-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) won Watanabe another Japanese Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

For his performance as Katsumoto in The Last Samurai, he was nominated for the 2003 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

In 2004, he was featured in People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" edition.

Watanabe played the part of the Ra's al Ghul in the 2005 film Batman Begins and The Chairman in the film version of the best selling Arthur Golden novel, Memoirs of a Geisha.

• 1. Saito: Are you here to kill me?
  From Inception. Submitted by ethan t (7 days ago)

• 1. General Kuribayashi: Everything happens in three's.
  From Letters from Iwo Jima. Submitted by Nicolo P (19 days ago)

• 1. Ra's Al Ghul: Death does not wait for you to be ready! Death is not considerate, or fair! And make no mistake: here, you face Death.
  From Batman Begins. Submitted by Eddie Y (2 months ago)

• 1. Arthur: If I say to you, don't think about elephants what do you think about?
  2. Saito: Elephants.
  From Inception. Submitted by Christopher S (3 months ago)

• 1. Katsumoto: You believe a man can change his destiny?
  2. Nathan Algren: I think a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed.
  From The Last Samurai. Submitted by Nusfish K (3 months ago)

• 1. Katsumoto: What happened to the warriors at Thermopylae?
  2. Nathan Algren: Dead to the last man.
  From The Last Samurai. Submitted by Francis L (3 months ago)

• 1. Katsumoto: Well, they won't surrender.
  From The Last Samurai. Submitted by Francis L (3 months ago)

• 1. Katsumoto: The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life. [With his dying breath] Perfect... They are all... perfect...
  From The Last Samurai. Submitted by Kevin M (4 months ago)

• 1. Saito: I'm gonna buy the airlines, it's neater.
  From Inception. Submitted by Hanna K (7 months ago)

• 1. Saito: No room for a tourist on this job.
  From Inception. Submitted by Hanna K (7 months ago)

• 1. Arthur: If I say to you don't think about elephants, what's the first thing you think about?
  2. Saito: Elephants.
  From Inception. Submitted by Christopher S (9 months ago)

• 1. Ra's Al Ghul: If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart.
  From Batman Begins. Submitted by Lucas M (9 months ago)

• 1. Ra's Al Ghul: Justice is balance. You burned my house and left me for dead. Consider us even.
  From Batman Begins. Submitted by Lucas M (9 months ago)

• 1. Saito: Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone!
  From Inception. Submitted by Jay M (11 months ago)

• 1. General Kuribayashi: The United States is the last country in the world that Japan should fight.
  From Letters from Iwo Jima. Submitted by TaysiaIrok T (11 months ago)

• 1. Saito: I'm asking you to take a leap of faith. Or do you want to become an old man, filled with regret, destined to die alone?
  From Inception. Submitted by Jason R (12 months ago)

• 1. Nathan Algren: There is Life in every breath...
  2. Katsumoto: That is, Bushido.
  From The Last Samurai. Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

• 1. General Kuribayashi: A day will come when they will weep and pray for your souls.
  From Letters from Iwo Jima. Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

• 1. General Kuribayashi: I am determined to serve and give my life for my country.
  From Letters from Iwo Jima. Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

• 1. Arthur: Don't think about Elephants. What are you thinking about?
  2. Saito: Elephants.
  From Inception. Submitted by Michael A (13 months ago)

• 1. Arthur: It would have to be a 747.
  2. Cobb: Why is that?
  3. Arthur: Because in a 747, the pilot?s up top, and the first class cabin?s in the nose, so no one would walk through. But you?d have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant?
  4. Saito: I bought the airline. It seemed neater.
  From Inception. Submitted by Kuldeep S (13 months ago)

• 1. Saito: Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone!
  From Inception. Submitted by Tinashe C (13 months ago)