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) Ken Watanabe 渡辺 謙 Ken Watanabe in 2007 Born October 21, 1959 (1959-10-21) (age 51) Koide, Niigata, Japan Occupation Actor Years active 1979–present Spouse Yumiko Watanabe (div. 2005) Kaho Minami (2005–present) Website kdash 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 Moritsu 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 Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles in director Christopher Nolan's Hollywood blockbusters Batman Begins and Inception..