Ken Watanabe

Ken Watanabe Born October 21, 1959 Kitauonuma, Niigata, Japan Notable role(s) Ishiro Serizawa First work MacArthur's Children (1984) Notable work Inception (2010)

Ken Watanabe (渡辺謙,   Watanabe Ken) is a Japanese actor. He portrayed Dr. Ishiro Serizawa in Legendary Pictures' Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Biography

Godzillamovie.com

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KEN WATANABE (Dr. Ishiro Serizawa) made his American film debut in Edward Zwick’s “The Last Samurai,” opposite Tom Cruise, for which Watanabe received Oscar®, Screen Actors Guild Award®, Critics’ Choice Award and Golden Globe Award nominations. Since then, the actor has collaborated with some of most significant filmmakers of our time. In 2006, Watanabe portrayed the courageous Japanese General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Clint Eastwood’s award-winning World War II drama “Letters from Iwo Jima.” Watanabe first worked with director Christopher Nolan on the 2005 blockbuster “Batman Begins,” and subsequently on “Inception.” For Rob Marshall, Watanabe starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” the lush screen adaptation of Arthur Golden’s best-selling novel. Later this year, Watanabe begins work on “Sea of Trees” for director Gus Van Sant. “Sea of Trees” is the story of a suicidal American (Matthew McConaughey) who befriends a Japanese man (Watanabe) lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji. At the end of the year, Watanabe stars with Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver in Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s acclaimed novel “Silence.” Set in the 17th century, “Silence” follows two Jesuit priests who face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and to spread the gospel of Christianity. Last year, Watanabe starred in, and received a Japanese Academy Award nomination for, “Yurusarezaru mono,” Sang-il Lee’s Japanese language remake of Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.” In 2006, Watanabe starred in and executive produced the Japanese film “Memories of Tomorrow,” for which he won a number of Best Actor awards, including the Japanese Academy Award and the Hochi Film Award. In 2009, he starred in“Shizumano Taiyô (The Unbroken),” for which he won his second Japanese Academy Award, as well as the Hochi Film Award for Best Actor. His Japanese film credits also include the international hit comedy “Tampopo,” directed by Juzo Itami, as well as “Ikebukuro West Gate Park,” “Space Travelers,” “Oboreru Sakana (Drowning Fish)” and “Shin Jinginaki Tatakai/Bosatsu (Fight Without Loyalty/Murder),” an updated version of the popular Yakuza movie series. Watanabe began his acting career with the Tokyo-based theater company En. His lead performance in the company’s production of “Shimoya Mannen-cho Monogatari,” directed by Yukio Ninawara, caught the attention of both critics and Japanese audiences. In 1982, Watanabe made his television debut with “Michinaru Hanran.” His formidable screen presence in the subsequent Samurai drama series “Dokuganryu Masamume” led to additional roles in the historical series “Oda Nobunaga” and “Chushingura,” and the film “Bakumatsu Junjou Den.” Last year, Watanabe returned to the Tokyo and Osaka stages in the comedy “Dialogue with Horowitz” by Koki Mitani. The critically acclaimed productions were sold out and later broadcast on television. Currently as of 2015, Mr. Watanabe is performing on-tour in a revival of the classic musical The King and I as the King of Saim.

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Godzilla-Movie.jp

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1987年、NHK 大河ドラマ「独眼竜政宗」に主演。他、数々のTVドラマ、映画、舞台に出演。2003年『ラスト サムライ』で、アカデミー賞、ゴールデン・グローブ賞の助演男優賞にノミネートされる。その後『バットマン ビギンズ』(05)と『インセプション』(10)でクリストファー・ノーランと、『SAYURI』(05)でロブ・マーシャルと、アカデミー賞作品賞にノミネートされた『硫黄島からの手紙』(06)でクリント・イーストウッドと組むなど、ハリウッドの名匠とコラボレーションを重ねてきた。次回作は、2014年アカデミー賞主演男優賞を受賞したマシュー・マコノヒーと共に、『グッド・ウィル・ハンティング／旅立ち』（97）のガス・ヴァン・サント監督最新作『Sea of Trees』が控える。

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Selected filmography

• Godzilla (2014) as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

Gallery

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  Watanabe with Gareth Edwards

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  Watanabe with Godzilla

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  Watanabe with Michael Dougherty

Videos

Godzilla press junket interview Godzilla: King of the Monsters press junket interview alongside Michael Dougherty Godzilla: King of the Monsters Collider interview alongside Michael Dougherty Godzilla: King of the Monsters Toho Kingdom interview

Trivia

• Ken Watanabe re-recorded his own lines for the Japanese dubs of Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
• A mosquito landed on Watanabe's nose during filming of his "let them fight" line in Godzilla, prompting him to quip "let them bite" afterwards.
• In an interview with Excite, Watanabe revealed that he preferred Gamera to Godzilla as a child, and had never thought of starring in Godzilla movies when he was younger.
• Watanabe's second ex-wife, Kaho Minami, starred as Colonel Kumi Emori in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

External links

• Twitter account

References

This is a list of references for Ken Watanabe. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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