Kabuki actor Kataoka Ainosuke (38) has a secret family, according to today’s issue of weekly magazine “Josei Seven.” The magazine reports that Kataoka and a 43-year-old bar hostess he has known since the early 90s have a son who is currently in the 5th grade. Mother and son are said to be living in Kyoto but have been spotted going in and out of Kataoka’s high rise apartment in Osaka.
Kataoka was thrown into the spotlight at the end of last year when he was named as a last-minute replacement for actor Ichikawa Ebizo (33), who abruptly dropped out of a scheduled role following a drunken assault scandal in late November. With all the major names fully booked during the busy new schedule the pressure was on the little-known Kataoka, but he received good reviews for his performances at the Minamiza theater in Kyoto (photo). Unusually for an actor in the traditional theater world, Kataoka was born into a family with no kabuki connections. He became a child actor at the age of 5 and became a student of Kataoka Nizaemon XIII at the age of 9, taking the stage name of Chiyomaru. He succeeded to the name Ainosuke VI in 1992, as his mentor Kataoka Hidetaro (69) had no sons. The Josei Seven article says that around the time his own son was born Ainosuke was still a struggling actor whose career would likely have ended if he had revealed that he had a wife and child.