ACTOR

Ken Watanabe

1959 - Today

Photo of Ken Watanabe

Icon of person Ken Watanabe

Ken Watanabe (渡辺 謙, Watanabe Ken, born October 21, 1959) is a Japanese 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 Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Among other awards, he has won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ken Watanabe has received more than 6,351,920 page views. His biography is available in 49 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 48 in 2019). Ken Watanabe is the 544th most popular actor (down from 472nd in 2019), the 159th most popular biography from Japan (down from 123rd in 2019) and the 6th most popular Japanese Actor.

Ken Watanabe is most famous for his role as the King of Siam in the musical "The King and I" in the 1990s.

Memorability Metrics

  • 6.4M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 62.65

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 49

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.72

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.60

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ACTORS

Among actors, Ken Watanabe ranks 544 out of 13,578. Before him are Eleonora Duse, Tippi Hedren, Karlheinz Böhm, Brian Cox, Mel Ferrer, and Nǃxau ǂToma. After him are Maria Schell, Raul Julia, Louise Fletcher, Mae West, Nastassja Kinski, and Jessica Tandy.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1959, Ken Watanabe ranks 23. Before him are Bryan Adams, Magic Johnson, Bernd Schuster, Mauricio Macri, Ali Bongo Ondimba, and Sean Bean. After him are János Áder, Mike Pence, Benny Gantz, Milorad Dodik, Robert Knepper, and John McEnroe.

Others Born in 1959

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Ken Watanabe ranks 159 out of 6,245. Before him are Kenzō Takada (1939), Kazuyoshi Miura (1967), Junko Tabei (1939), Kobayashi Issa (1763), Tomoyuki Yamashita (1885), and Iwane Matsui (1878). After him are Shoko Asahara (1955), Osamu Yamaji (1929), Nobusuke Kishi (1896), Emperor Ōjin (210), Antonio Inoki (1943), and Shohei Imamura (1926).

Others born in Japan

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Among ACTORS In Japan

Among actors born in Japan, Ken Watanabe ranks 6. Before him are Olivia de Havilland (1916), Liv Ullmann (1938), Mako (1933), Sonny Chiba (1939), and Joan Fontaine (1917). After him are Takashi Shimura (1905), Setsuko Hara (1920), Hiroyuki Sanada (1960), Tatsuya Nakadai (1932), Sessue Hayakawa (1886), and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (1950).

Japanese born Actors

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Television and Movie Roles

Karate Warrior
Maestro Kimura
Anthony is in the Phillipines visiting his father. He inadvertently interferes with the affairs of local gangster Quino, who also happens to be a champion Karate fighter. After embarrassing Quino near a local tournament, Anthony is beaten up and left for dead. An old monk nurses Anthony back to health and teaches him the ways of martial arts so he may go back and fight Quino again.
Sep 3o 19875.1 / 10
Karate Warrior 2
Kimura
After studying martial arts in the Philippines and defeating his opponent Quino, Anthony Scott heads back to the U.S. to attend college. Making the promise to his teacher that he will not fight, Anthony finds himself the target of the Tigers, a local martial arts gang led by bully Dick. When Dick constantly attempts to fight Anthony, Anthony refuses. However, Anthony will fight under the condition that it will be a fair fight. When Dick resorts to dirty tactics, Anthony uses his special move, The Dragon Strike, to defeat Dick. Upset at his loss, Dick decides to get even through the Tigers' real leader, Mark Sanders.
Sep 22o 19884.8 / 10
Ninja Warriors
Kuroda
Steve is a Ninja. He's been called in by the police to help them in their investigations. He's to work with Kevin, a police lieutentant. They are investigating the break-in at the Federal Research Institute, where despite heavy security, 7 Ninja warriors manage to steal a vital document. Well pleased with their night's work, they return to their master, Kurodo, who finds they only have a half of the information they need. The police capatain wants results. Kevin suspects that a Japanese Garden he visited once with Steve could be the headquarters of Kurodo and his Ninja's and goes in search of proof. He's caught spying and is tortured and killed. After the disappearance of Kevin, Steve opens his Ninja box. He breaks the seal of his Katana and starts the Mantra. He attacks the Japanese Garden, eliminates the Ninja warriors and after recovering the documents and blowing up the laboratory, finally meets Kurodo, there can only be one victor...
Jun 1o 19855 / 10