Biography
Takatarô Kataoka is a Japanese actor and Kabuki performer. Born in Kyoto on 23 January 1968, he is the eldest son of Kabuki actor Kataoka Nizaemon XV and a member of the Matsushima-ya guild. He specialises as an onnagata, performing female roles, and made his stage debut in 1973.
Kataoka has appeared in several films and television dramas. His screen credits include the role of the Kamikaze Boy Pilot in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987), Emperor Hirohito in Emperor (2012), and Masaki Hirai in The Little House (2014). On television he has played Ashikaga Yoshiakira in the NHK taiga drama Taiheiki (1991) and appeared in The Great White Tower (2003–2004).
