Ever since his Oscar-nominated Hollywood debut as Lord Katsumoto in 2003¡¯s ¡°The Last Samurai,¡± Ken Watanabe has been the best-known Japanese actor in the world.
Along with other memorable screen roles in ¡°Memoirs of a Geisha¡± and ¡°Batman Begins¡± (both 2005), ¡°Letters from Iwo Jima¡± (2006) and ¡°Inception¡± (2010), he also ventured into Broadway¡¯s unforgiving spotlight in the hit 2015 musical ¡°The King and I¡± ¡ª with his portrayal of the King of Siam earning him a best lead actor nomination at the Tony Awards, the first-ever for a Japanese performer.
Recently, however, Watanabe has been busy in Tokyo preparing to play the title role of a Spanish conquistador in ¡°Pizarro¡± ¡ª an adaptation of 1964¡¯s ¡°The Royal Hunt of the Sun¡± by the English playwright Sir Peter Shaffer.
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