The Last Samurai star Ken Watanabe forced to delay his return to Broadway's The King And I while he battles stomach cancer
Tony- and Oscar-nominated actor Ken Watanabe has been forced to delay his return to Broadway's The King and I while he battles stomach cancer.
The 56-year-old Japanese actor, who made his American stage debut last year opposite Kelli O'Hara in the revival of The King and I, was due to return to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical from March 1-April 17.
The actor has undergone endoscopic surgery and is recuperating at a hospital in Japan.
Health battle: Ken Watanabe, pictured in June at the 69th annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York, has been diagnosed with stomach cancer
In a statement, the actor said: 'I would like to ask for your understanding that the start of my performance in New York will be a little delayed.'
Watanabe, who has been in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Inception, also starred in the reboot of Godzilla and Letters From Iwo Jima and lent his voice to the fourth installment of the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction.
He earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in the Tom Cruise-led 2003 film The Last Samurai.
Lead role: The actor in Broadway's The King and I in June. He has been forced to delay his return to the stage
The King and I is also nominated for a Grammy Award for best musical theater album.
Word of the diagnosis was first reported by Kyodo News service.
Ken was previously diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 1989 and after he defeated it, it returned in 1994. He went into remission two years later.
Explaining his reluctance to talk about his illness previously, he said: 'As an actor, I didn't want to talk about it. If I create a strong guy, everyone couldn't see the strong guy. This is inside of me.'
Oscar nominee: He earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in the Tom Cruise-led 2003 film The Last Samurai
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