Tom Cruise (Nathan Algren), Ken Watanabe (Moritsugu Katsumoto), Koyuki (Taka), Hiroyuki Sanada (Ujio), Shin Koyamada (Nobutada), Masato Harada (Omura), Timothy Spall (Simon Graham), Togo Igawa (General Hasegawa), William Atherton (Winchester-Vertreter), Chad Lindberg (Assistent des Winchester-Vertreters), Tony Goldwyn (Colonel Benjamin Bagly), Scott Wilson (Botschafter Swanbeck), Shun Sugata (Nakao), Seizo Fukumoto (Der schweigende Samurai), John Koyama (Omuras Leibwächter), Billy Connolly (Sergeant Grant), Hiroshi Watanabe (Wächter), Satoshi Nikaido (Unteroffizier), Shichinosuke Nakamura (Kaiser Meiji)