Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, an Academy Award nominee for his performance in the movie The Last Samurai and lauded in the recent Broadway revival of The King and I, is fighting stomach cancer.

The actor was diagnosed “almost miraculously early” with the cancer last month and underwent surgery, he said on Twitter.

“I was really shocked, my wife and daughter pushed me to have a health check and the cancer was found. It was a very early stage and they operated immediately,” he added.

Known at first in Japan mainly for his samurai roles, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 1989, resuming acting while still gaunt and bald from chemotherapy.

The cancer returned in the early 1990s but he underwent treatment and has since been in remission.

His real introduction to Western audiences came in 1993, with the role of a rebel samurai in The Last Samurai, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

A slew of other films followed, including Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins, Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima and the 2014 US Godzilla reboot.

Approached about doing The King and I, Watanabe said his first reaction was “‘In English? A musical? Oh no, no, no, I can never do this’,” the New York Times reported.