Hiroshi Watanabe was born in Tokyo, Japan.

After studying acting in one of the major theatre companies in Tokyo, he joined the theatre company called Roba Project. In Tokyo, he worked on more than 25 theatre productions and several films. After the Roba Project broke up, he moved to the US to study American acting techniques.

He studied at the LACC Theatre Academy, and was coached by the wonderful and prestigious actress Jill Brennan from the Yale Drama School and by the internationally acclaimed Classical Theatre Director Elizabeth Huffman. He subsequently started working as an actor in the US.

He has done many Theatre productions, most notably the Odd Couple, the Good Doctor, Pillow Talk, Iphigenia in Aulis, the Trojan Women and Two Nobel Kinsmen (by Shakespeare and   Fletcher).

He got cast in the Last Samurai (Warner Bros') as  Tom Cruise’s opponent, a memorable part in the film. Particularly interesting is his scene with Tom Cruise and Timothy Spall in the middle of the movie.

In Letters from Iwo Jima (Warner Bros’) produced by Steven Spielberg, he was chosen by Clint Eastwood as one of the main characters, Lieutenant Fujita, who is the right hand man of General Kuribayashi played by Ken Watanabe. This film won the Golden Globe Award as the best foreign language film, the Academy Award for  best sound editing, and the National Board of Review Award  for best picture and was nominated for an Oscar as best picture, as well.

Hiroshi played the lead role in White on Rice directed by Dave Boyle. The film was released in more than 30 major theatre chains in the US, such as Regal Entertainment Group, Edwards and AMC.  White on Rice is a hilarious comedy. He plays a leading man who recently got divorced and is looking for love. Hiroshi hits every comedic beat with surgical precision in the film. And the film has earned many awards in major film festivals.