Ken Watanabe
Ken Watanabe
Ken Watanabeis 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 Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles...
NationalityJapanese
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth21 October 1959
CityKoide, Japan
CountryJapan
With 'Letters from Iwo Jima,' then 'Memories of Tomorrow,' I reached a sort of turning point in my acting. I had poured so much of myself into those movies that I really had no idea where to go from there.
As a Japanese actor, I really want to work with a lot of actors and actresses in the world and many directors who have many different kinds of talents. I feel like nationally doesn't matter at all.
Each director is different. Clint Eastwood and Chris Nolan are completely different, and I need to adjust to the story and character and the director and just my duty as an actor.
If the script is good, the cast and director good, I'll go anywhere.
About half the scripts sent to me feature characters I just can't identify with, particularly one-dimensional businessmen or, if it's a comedy, some absurd 10-year-old Japanese stereotype, some role related to IT or business... There's no point in getting mad about it; it's just the way things are.
I have no sense of myself as a sex symbol at all. But the meaning of sex symbol might be a little different in Japan to elsewhere. The Japanese version seems to come with a stronger emphasis on a sort of grownup or mature male charm. And if that's the case, then I guess I'm happy to hear it.
It was a good morale boost and I was happy to see that. It brought the focus back to our main goal, which is to repeat as the state champion.
We found that they punched the keyhole in the driver's side.
They're in much brighter spirits than last night. They still are kind of depressed. Of course, they are sad because some of them had some personal stuff in the bags, too. One of the girls had a ring passed down from her mom stolen.
She (Christine) chose not to play this year. Maybe because of all of the traveling and time away from school.
The King struggles to work with other countries. It's a warrior's concern, and as current events [demonstrate], the challenges in working with international partners are very serious and far from comedic.
I'm not a big star in Japan. I'm an actor. I have a very normal life. Four days a week, I cook at home. A star doesn't do that.
There are always many sides to the truth.
Do what is right because it is right.