 Ken's Story
The Last Samurai star Ken Watanabe grew up in the hills of rural Japan. His mother was a general education teacher and his father taught calligraphy. He graduated from Koide high school in Niigata in 1978. Growing up, he tried musical pursuits (the trumpet), but did not commit to a field of study before reaching college--he was waiting to discover what he was good at. He was a member of the Tokyo theatre troupe "Madoka", and landed the leading role in the play, Shimodani Mannen-cho Monogatari, earning critical acclaim. When he was 23, a director of England's National Theatre Company recommended acting, and he began attending the company at age 24.
 Since the 1980's Ken has taken many starring and supporting roles in theatre, television, radio and movies. He has played a bumbling police detective, a Tokugawa-era samurai caught in a love triangle, a hostage, a bridal consultant's brother, a doctor, a teddy-bear-toting terrorist bomber, a missing husband, a poor samurai who moonlights as an investigator-hero to make extra money, a businessman, a lieutenant, and many other characters. Of course, he's best known in Japan for his Samurai roles, especially the dramatic series. His most famous TV drama was 1987's 50-episode series, Dokuganryu Masamune (Masamune, the One-Eyed Dragon), still Japan's most popular re-broadcast.
In 1989, shortly after getting his first leading role in a film, Ten to chi, Ken developed a severe form of lukemia of the bone marrow. He was not able to complete the movie and, in a teary-eyed press conference, told the public, "I hope one day to stand before you again". His lukemia went into remission in 1990. Famous as he is with the over-40 set, the younger Japanese are more familiar with Tom Cruise, who is as huge a star there as in the United States of America, and Hiroyuki Sanada, a huge film star in Japan who played a supporting role in The Last Samurai as Ujio, Katsumoto's best warrior. Although many of Ken's parts in movies have been small, some were leading roles. Even his small roles left a distinct impression, and now viewers know Ken Watanabe was "that guy" they couldn't forget.
 Ken's lukemia recurred again in 1994. It was during this time that he found his beloved chocolate lab, "Halley", in a pet store on his way home from chemotherapy. In 1995, Ken was in remission again and got back into work. He starred in an acclaimed, 50-episode series titled Gokenin Zankurou (aka, the Ninth Son) in which he even tried his hand at directing for the last episode. (Most TV drama series in Japan are unique, 11-episode stories.) Another popular TV series of Ken's is the "Big River Drama". It was not until 1998 that he starred in another film, Kizuna (Bond/Mark), alongside Kouji Yakusho. It was a long time, however, until he was well enough to return to live theatre...not until 2001. He has starred in more than a half-dozen films altogether, including his role as Lieutenant General Azuma Mansanobu in the action flick T.R.Y., and, of course, the fearsome warrior Katusmoto in The Last Samurai!
When Ed Zwick was ready to throw in the towel and leave Japan in despair over finding his Katsumoto, his casting assistant convinced him to meet Watanabe and talk to him. Ed Zwick said, "within two minutes of meeting Ken, I knew I'd found my Katsumoto." The Last Sumaurai is his first English-speaking film. Ken was sent to study English in the United States for a period of time before filming started for the epic in 2002.
  He participated in the Japanese Academy Award ceremony in New Zealand with the cast and crew of The Last Samurai and other nominees, such as from The Lord of the Rings' third installment, also filmed in New Zealand. He won for the role of "Okubo", the sidekick of the main character in the non-fiction film Hi wa mata noboru (The Sun Will Rise Again). His huge role as Katsumoto in The Last Samurai, set in revolutionary Japan, is his first performance in English. He has been nominated for and/or won a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award, a Screen Actor's Guild Award, and many others for his his supporting role of Katsumoto. The movie has also been nominated for and/or won countless awards, including Best Picture, Cinematography, Director, Costume Design, Production, Musical Score, Sound, Sound Editing, Special Effects and the list goes on. Most important is its nomination for the Golden Globe's "Best Picture" and the National Board of Review's "Top Ten Films of 2003". Ed Zwick was winner of "Best Director" from the National Board of Review and the Golden Globe awards. "The Last Samurai" has garnered five nominations for the Saturn Awards (to be held May 5th), including "Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film", "Best Director" (Ed Zwick), "Best Actor" (Tom Cruise), "Best Supporting Actor" (Ken Watanabe), and "Best Younger Actor" (Sosuke Ikematsu).
 Ken Watanabe, the many other experienced Japanese actors, and Tom Cruise did ALL their own stunts for The Last Samurai. Tom Cruise studied swordsmansip and participated in strength and flexibility training for over a year, and continued to work an extra two hours a day on the set. Ken has known swordwork for a long time. However, even HE had to train SPECIFICALLY for fighting with two swords! "Very different style, and the footwork is so very different," says Ken. "Very difficult choreography...We have to trust each other and have to exercise, many exercises.” They did their own stunts using real swords (dulled aliminum instead of sharpened iron or steel). The choreography of every such move is crucial. How crucial? Says Ken, "We had to trust each other completely. The timing have to be perfect, because one miss, and end of this movie."
 Their stunts were done the old-fashioned way; with actual choreographed swordfights using two swords, stunt-trained horses (surprisingly acquired from various non-descript individual sources and work roles) riding through timed explosions, explosions all around the horses, and true horseback bow-and-arrow work (which Shin Koyamada had to learn in 7 months). A few scenes in The Last Samurai required special treatment, but the rest was billiantly choreographed battle, including the rain-soaked duel Ujio (master swordsman and famous Japanese actor, Hiroyuki Sanada) when Nathan (Tom Cruise). There were 2 near-misses on the set, and one was quite scary. This was due to a mechanical (horse) failure, leaving Tom directly in the path of Hiroyuki's sword. Only Hiroyuki's supreme skill and control prevented Tom from being very seriously injured...he stopped the sword a half-inch from Tom's neck! Tom also caught a glancing blow from Ken's sword in the Ninja scenes, when he didn't duck as low as he was supposed to. The cast revealed that by the time the major battle scenes were filmed, Tom had, "Total spacial awareness...nobody got hurt, even when you changed moves on the day (of filming)...to anyone watching, everything is going full-speed, which it is, you can't slow it down...but it seemed to me like everything was moving in slow motion." This, acording to martial arts experts and "the way of the sword", is exactly what a samurai warrior strives for--to be completely aware and see what is going to happen before it happens, to anticipate every move.
  Ken seperated from his wife in 2002 after he discovered she "borrowed" 450 million yen from a religious organization, as well as from personal friends of the couple. She had claimed it was being used for his health expenses, but it was not. Under Japanese law, he is equally as responsible as his wife for the debt. Their 120-million-dollar home was repossessed and Ken now lives in an apartment in Tokyo. He has paid back 410 million yen, but there is still a debt of 40 million yen to pay. He formally filed for divorce in February 2003 (a difficult and lengthy process in Japan), to which she repsonded by filing allegations about affairs with five different actresses, including the wife of the leader of the religious organization, who have all denied these accusations. He has two children, an 18 year old daughter who is working as a model and one son, an actor, who is 20 years old.
    KEN ALSO RECORDED A FEW CDs! Yes! Rit was likely recorded around 1992, thinks a fan on the message board for Ken Watanabe at IMDb.com. Rondo (November 1987) and Adante (November 1988) can still be found on auction sites. See the Media page for links to online auction sites. Rit is definitely not produced anymore...I gleaned that information from the Sound Engineer, who is also the person that maintains the webpage about it. I am unsure of the others. All are Japanese recordings.
  I did find out that Ken indeed sings on these albums. Ken has a VERY nice singing voice...like that's a surprise after hearing him speak? No suprise at all! Between takes of battle scenes (which took 6 weeks even when split into smaller crews) for The Last Samurai, after screaming, yelling and swordfighting, Ken and Tom Cruise would unwind by singing the American pop classic Close to You by the Carpenters. You can hear Ken sing part of the song in the NPR Radio Interview.
 Ken was part of NHK television's 50th year in broacasting, appearing last year in Kawa itsuka Umi e, a TV drama of love and courage. Made up of six heart-warming stories, it follows the lives, loves and courage of married couples from a variety of walks of life. They are tied together in their contact with a floating glass ball that travels along the river, symbolizing the fragility and the power of love. Ken plays an unmotivated and rather lazy man, convinced by a friend to take over the running of a hotel. His wife tries hard to make the hotel succeed, the workers are striking, and the husband has a habit of scolding his wife to make himself feel important. Will she stand by her man? Can they succeed together?
 Ken's newest TV drama, Suna no Utsuwa, in which he plays a police inspector, began in January 2004 in Japan. Ken is currently filming a new Japanese movie set in the snowy mountains of Hokkaido, Japan. An early Meiji-period drama called Kita no Zeronen, it follows the trials of a family uprooted from everything they love on the Tokugawa-controlled island of Awazi and forced to begin a new life among the native Ainu on the northern island. Ken acts opposite legendary Japanese actress Sayuri Yoshinaga as the husband that dissappears for five years during local unrest and comes back as an employee of the government. Watch the [Japanese] press conference in Japan for "Kita no Zeronen" (RealPlayer).
In his home perfecture of Niigata, Japan, Ken participated in Niigata 2001: A Space Odessey, a 100-year festival in which over 420 local citizens participated, and which included performing high school dance troops, singing and plays. Ken sang a new love song (I don't know if it was his own or someone else's), and performed the talking role of "Wind" in the musical, The Man Who Plants the Wood.
 On February 10th, rumors surfaced that the makers of BATMAN were searching for a "huge" asian actor who can speak broken English, and within 2 days, rumors surfaced that Ken Watanabe would soon be announced as a part of the cast. Ken Watanabe confirmed during an interview with USA Today at red-carpet cermonies at the Screen Actors' Guild Awards that he will, indeed, be playing a villan in the 5th BATMAN movie. The subsequent official press release confirmed he will take the role of Batman's most powerful and evil adversary, "Ras Al Ghul" ("head of the demon"), who thinks he can make the world perfect through ethnic cleansing. Part of the film revolves around Bruce Wayne before he became "the Batman". Trust me, you do NOT want to read any "script leaks" that are on the internet...there is rumored to be a HUGE PLOT TWIST that even comics-readers won't expect. While MOST reliable sources refuse to divulge this information and ruin the surprise for movie-goers, some have no such scruples. I HOPE what I accidentally read is wrong! (According to the more scrupulous rumor-websites, there are some actual facts out there, along with complete fabrications.)
Batman Begins filming started in Iceland on March 1st, 2004 and wrapped up on March 11th. On March 12th, the crew began filming in London, where they expect to be through sometime in June, when Ken will join them after finishing Kita no Zeronen. Then the cast moves to New York City, and finally, Chicago, Illinois, in late July or early August. It is rumored that most or all of the cast will be in Chicago, including Ken, but this is not confirmed.
 Since soon after The Last Samurai ended its run, rumors and discussion started surfacing about Ken appearing in various U.S. works. One rumor was the role of a chef (which never materialized). Mostl fan-talk revolved around his suitability for the role of "Mr. Chairman" in the upcoming U.S. film Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the novel by U.S. author Aruthur Golden. Much to his fans' delight, he has since been cast for this very part! His co-star in the award-winning Kizuna, Koji Yakusho, who also starred in Shall We Dance?, is also cast in Memoirs of a Geisha as "Nobu"--a double-delight for fans of both actors. Filming begins September 20, 2004, in Japan. In the meantime, Ken has been taking more English classes in Los Angles, California, and has been looking for a residence there. He currently lives in Tokyo.
-- by Teresa M. Schliker
Massachusetts, United States of America
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Chinese "ken"