Ken Watanabe

• Birth name:

  Kensaku Watanabe

• Date of Birth:

  21 October 1959 Uonuma, Japan

• Height:

  6' 0¾" (1.85 m)

Ken Watanabe was born on October 21, 1959 in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. In 1978, he moved to Tokyo to pursue his career as an actor. He drew attention of the critics when Yukio Ninagawa, a famous Japanese director, chose him for the lead role in one of his plays even though he was still an acting student. He made his first TV appearance in 1982 but his real career breakthrough came when he was chosen to play the lead in the Japanese national TV drama series called "Dokugan ryu Masamune"; he pla... more

Ken Watanabe was born on October 21, 1959 in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. In 1978, he moved to Tokyo to pursue his career as an actor. He drew attention of the critics when Yukio Ninagawa, a famous Japanese director, chose him for the lead role in one of his plays even though he was still an acting student. He made his first TV appearance in 1982 but his real career breakthrough came when he was chosen to play the lead in the Japanese national TV drama series called "Dokugan ryu Masamune"; he played a samurai leader hero, that made him a household name in Japan. In 1989 when he was shooting a movie in Canada, he collapsed because of Leukemia. He made a miraculous comeback and in 2003 "_The Last Samurai_" where he co-starred with Tom Cruise pushed him to a center stage of Hollywood. "The Last Samurai" is his 15th movie. He is a fanatic fan of Hanshin Tigers (Japanese professional baseball team) and Kobe Steel rugby team. He loves noodles.