Ken Watanabe

is a Japanese stage, movie, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences, he is known for playing characters such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in "Letters from Iwo Jima". He played Lord Katsumoto Moritsu in the 2003 movie "The Last Samurai" and 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 acting in Christopher Nolan's movies, "Batman Begins" and "Inception".
On February 9, 2016, it was revealed Watanabe, a leukemia survivor, had been diagnosed with stomach cancer.