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Actresses
who appeared with Ken Watanabe on screen:
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.jpg) Ken Watanabe
Birthday: October 21, 1959
Birth
Place: Koide, Niigata, Japan
Height: 6' 0"
Below
is a complete filmography (list of movies he's appeared in) for
Ken Watanabe. If you have any corrections or additions, please email
us at corrections@actorsofhollywood.com.
We'd also be interested in any trivia or other information you have.
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| Biography
Despite the fact that veteran Japanese actor Ken Watanabe has been appearing in films since the early '80s (foreign film buffs may remember him from a supporting role in the 1985 art-house "noodle Western" Tampopo), it wasn't until his breakthrough role in the Tom Cruise adventure The Last Samurai that the frequent onscreen samurai eventually came to the attention of stateside audiences. Watanabe has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema beloved by legions of older fans overseas, but his performance as the last in a long line of ancient warriors in The Last Samurai is what finally found the modest actor courting international success. Watanabe was born in Niigata to schoolteacher parents — his father taught calligraphy and his mother general education. A blissful childhood spent exploring the countryside and skiing with his brother Jun was rounded out by Watanabe's love of the trumpet and his involvement with the school band, and though he studied acting early on, he was hesitant to pursue a career before the cameras. Convinced by a director from England's National Theater Company that he was truly gifted in the art of performing, the then 24-year-old hopeful soon landed his first film role. Initial bliss was followed by harsh uncertainty when Watanabe was diagnosed with leukemia shortly thereafter, but the disease would eventually go into remission and his career would skyrocket. Though Watanabe has portrayed many different types of characters in his long and varied career, it is his skill with a sword that has truly cemented his status as a star in Japan — he has played more samurai than even he can keep track of. It was this magnetism that attracted the attention of Last Samurai director Edward Zwick, who quickly made the decision to cast him in the popular blockbuster. His impressive performance in the film found him nominated for both a 2003 Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Watanabe's son is an actor and his daughter a model.
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Movie
Credits
Trivia
- Children: son, actor Shin Shinitiro (born August 1st 1984) and daughter, An Watanabe (born 1986).
- Already extremely tall by Japanese standards, he gained a good amount of weight (about 20 pounds) to be an even more imposing presence for his role as Katsumoto in "The Last Samurai."
- As of 2004, he became the sixth Asian actor to be nominated for an Academy Award. The first and second Asian actors were Miyoshi Umeki, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Sayonara (1957), and Sessue Hayakawa, nominated the same year for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). The third nominee was Mako for "The Sand Pebbles". The fourth nominee, and the second to win was Haing S. Ngor for "The Killing Fields (1984)". The fifth to be nominated was Pat Morita.
- Was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 1989. Since then he had fallen ill only once in 1994, but is now a fully recovered actor.
Naked Photos of Ken Watanabe are available at MaleStars.com. They
currently feature over 65,000 Nude Pics, Biographies, Video Clips,
Articles, and Movie Reviews of famous stars. |
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