33-year-old Kabuki actor Onoe Ukon will appear on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi), airing at 1 PM on March 19th.
His paternal great-grandfather was the sixth generation Onoe Kikugoro, and his maternal grandfather was actor Koji Tsuruta, who also had a successful career as a singer. Born into the family that heads the Kiyomoto school of Kabuki accompaniment music, he is also active in Kiyomoto. He showcased his magnificent singing voice in the studio, but balancing being a Kabuki actor and a Kiyomoto performer is unprecedented. He said he is very grateful for the support of those around him that allows him to do what he wants.
He says that at the age of three, he saw a film starring his great-grandfather and decided, "I want to do that, I want to become a Kabuki actor." He says that he was able to perform the play he had dreamed of for about 30 years last year, and that he felt completely burnt out at one point.
